Microsoft has confirmed the next-gen Xbox Series X will support backwards compatibility with all Xbox One titles from the day it launches.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer told GameSpot the Xbox Series X will be able to play all of the games currently available on the Xbox One from day one. That includes Xbox One games, but also the Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles that have been made backwards compatible over time with the Xbox One.
"We wanted to make sure we had that, day one, we could deliver on the compatibility promise, and so I've been playing quite a few [Xbox 360] games on my [Xbox Series X] and Xbox One games on the [Xbox Series X] and that's just to ensure that we can be there day one," Spencer told GameSpot.
Backwards compatibility for the Xbox Series X has been a topic of discussion for the next-gen console since Spencer talked about it at E3 2019. The promise back then was that the Xbox Series X would support games across four generations of Xbox consoles - the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
What we didn’t have back then is any mention of when that promise would be fulfilled. Long term Xbox users will know that backwards compatibility has been gradually introduced over the console's lifetime, with new (old) games given support on a fairly frequent basis. With this latest news, though, we know to expect the 575 backwards compatible games currently available on Xbox One will also be on Xbox Series X when it launches in holiday 2020.
Xbox’s director of program management Jason Ronald also confirmed to GameSpot that you’ll be able to transfer your Gamerscore, friends list, and Achievements, and game saves to the Xbox Series X straight away.
Making sure all of this is possible is a lot of work and so the Xbox team have been focusing on backwards compatibility for Xbox Series X since at least June 2019. That’s when the last bunch of backwards compatible titles for the Xbox One arrived, which included Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and Far Cry.
Spencer revealed recently he has already taken an Xbox Series X home to play using an Elite Series 2 controller. We don’t know exactly what games he’s been playing but we do have a list of all rumoured and confirmed Xbox Series X titles so far - so you can have a guess.
Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.