While it’s commonplace these days to hear about the many controversial things associated with the Xbox brand and Microsoft’s decision-making around it, there is one area that it has always excelled in – its backwards compatibility.
It’s one thing that was controversial about the PlayStation 4 in comparison to the Xbox One – the lack of ability for players to simply insert their PS3 games and make the most of their library.
However, despite this, there have always been games that have been harder to play on modern Xbox consoles – especially as older Xbox 360 games were delisted on the store and thus forced players to rely on physical copies. Now, though, a listing looks as though scores of popular Xbox 360 games might be set to return.
Xbox 360 games: The leaked listing
A post on X showcased what’s seen in certain regions, with each game shown having “coming soon” underneath them. While some of these, like Batman: Arkham Origins, can still be played on modern consoles with a disc, many of these games shown are currently inaccessible.
However, it’s not as clear cut as it might first appear. Lost Planet isn’t even delisted, for instance, so it wouldn’t make any sense for it to be included on the list of games coming soon.
For this reason, there is a very real possibility that this is just a mistake and that it doesn’t signify anything at all – or, alternatively, it might be part of a longer process that’s to do with how Microsoft is arranging the store for the next generation of Xbox hardware (whatever form that takes), which wouldn’t be expected to be seen for some time.
The game preservation discourse
This not only comes at a turbulent time for the Xbox brand but also amidst plenty of discussion about the preservation of games and how players are seeking to ensure that any game is always accessible once it’s released.
Not only is it an issue with older games being locked to platforms that are currently no longer available, but it also impacts live service games once they cease to be profitable and are taken offline forever – with Concord being a recent example of that and one that was even raised in this point during a debate in the UK House of Commons.
Through that lens, it’s easy to see how adding more old games to the Xbox store might grant Microsoft some long-awaited positive press.
