Microsoft has already said that Helix will play PC games, so making these older Xbox titles available on PC helps build a broader Xbox library that can travel between devices, similar to what’s already possible with Steam. Creating all these digital licenses also helps set up for a future of consoles without disc drives; Sony has already declared game discs dead, and Microsoft is expected to follow suit.
With 360 games, developers can opt into making them backward compatible, and they will have control over things like a game’s price and if it’s available on Game Pass. The feature is expected to have a “gradual” rollout between 2027 and 2028 “across next-gen devices.” The “full launch” of original Xbox games on PC is also set for October 2026; the initial program announced in July included just four games.
The document also includes details about a way for players to get a digital version of a game that they already own on a physical disc, which The Verge’s Tom Warren reported on in July. The document says that if a player puts an Xbox One or Series game on disc into an Xbox One or Series X console with a disc drive, they’ll be granted a digital license that’s bound to “that disc and the player’s account.” The license will stay with a player across Xbox devices, but if the disc “changes hands,” the license will transfer to the new person. That should mean that gamers can still trade and sell discs; once the original owner of a disc does so, they can’t play the digital version they got from that disc anymore.
I was under the assumption Helix backwards compatibility would just work like the Series X and PC compatibility was for future third party OEMs and windows on the whole. If it’s that they need a specific PC backwards compatibility program for Helix than that’s admittedly a little alarming. Like I don’t know how much they can get compatible in a year (unless Helix is 2028 or later) and won’t we run into licensing issues again?
It probably will and maybe these new listings are just for PC, we’ll have to wait and see.
Very alarming, yes. I really hope this is just for other PCs and Helix has full BC on a hardware level (in other words, automatic support for anything that worked on Series X). If not, I’ve got a serious problem with that.
Funny that the disc-to-digital program is just literally the original plan for Xbox One. Except a dozen years later.
There’s no reason to think that the “Xbox” side of things won’t just work, most of this report seems to be about listing 360 games on the PC store side of things. They just have to relist it for the Xbox PC app.
That’d be ideal. Getting the stuff for PC is really really exciting because of the long term support it brings and how it benefits already existing windows gaming. That’s just a straight evolution and sets Xbox as an ecosystem up to be something really special next gen. But if it’s all PC including Helix then there might be more caveats. I’ll assume it’s not the case until told otherwise. Xbox has consistently only reffered to Helix as a console that also plays PC games (they even called it the next Xbox Console before revealing it and under Phil), so I don’t expect them to make it a full PC and drop the Xbox console aspect.
Revive Midtown Madness 3 (i guess they are working on original Xbox too) or Perfect Dark Zero’s multiplayer modes and i’m back please, both games were so fun in MP (well in Single player too imo)