Xbox boss Phil Spencer believes that old games should be kept, and believes that “legal simulation” is something the industry needs to support.
In a conversation with Axios, Spencer said that, similar to movies, TV, and music, preserving old games needs to be a priority for the industry.
“My hope (and I think I have to present it in this way now) as an industry, we will work on legal simulation, allowing modern hardware to run any (within reason) older executable files, allowing someone to play Any game,” he said.
Microsoft has done its best to help solve this problem by adding more games to its backward compatibility library. Recently, 76 games of Xbox and Xbox 360 games have been added, allowing original owners to play these games on newer consoles. Of course, if you don’t have games yet, they can also be purchased.
The addition of these games supports Spencer’s view that “anyone should be able to buy any game, or own any game and continue to play it.”
As for other platform holders, Sony and Nintendo, there are a few different approaches. For example, Sony’s PS5 only supports backward compatibility with PS4 games-this does not include old games that can be accessed through PS Now. On the other hand, Nintendo provides Switch with some games from its old system through its Switch Online subscription service-but unless you maintain a sub-game, you can’t keep these games.
Therefore, at present, Xbox is the only game console that supports all generations through backward compatibility and does not require subscription. This is what Spencer said should be adopted by everyone and become “our great North Star as an industry.”
