Today, Microsoft's Director of Program Management for Xbox, Jason Ronald, took to the Xbox Wire blog to reiterate the console manufacturer's stance on backward compatibility going into the launch of the Xbox Series X. Microsoft has been transparent with their intention of having Xbox Series X be compatible with three generations of Xbox since the console was first teased at E3 2019, with Ronald's Xbox Wire post now finally detailing how backward compatibility works on the Series X console.
Microsoft first introduced backward compatibility to Xbox One in 2015 with the launch lineup including Xbox 360 titles such as Red Dead Redemption, Halo: Reach and Fallout 3. The catch was that the Xbox One was not natively compatible with Xbox 360 software. Each title, even when played via a physical disc, required a full digital download, with physical discs being used to validate that the player actually owned the game.
Furthermore, the titles would receive very little enhancements from the Xbox One itself, as they would only be played through an emulator made to run each supported title. This would mean load times, resolutions and frame-rates would remain the same, with the exception of certain Xbox One X enhanced titles and the addition of v-sync native to the emulator. This emulation extended to original Xbox games, upon their introduction in to the backward compatibility lineup in 2017 with the likes of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Ronald tackles this subject directly in the Xbox Wire post, stating "Backwards compatible games run natively on the Xbox Series X hardware, running with the full power of the CPU, GPU and the SSD. No boost mode, no downclocking, the full power of the Xbox Series X for each and every backward compatible game." He also states that upcoming titles will also make use of the Xbox Series X's "Quick Resume" feature, allowing players to pick up instantly from where they left off, even after booting up another game.
Commenting on what titles will be available at launch, Ronald claimed "With more than 100,000 hours of play testing already completed, thousands of games are already playable on Xbox Series X today, from the biggest blockbusters to cult classics and fan favorites." He continues, "By the time we launch this holiday, the team will have spent well over 200,000 hours ensuring your game library is ready for you to jump in immediately."
The blog post also reveals that, thanks to the native playback of each title, developers will be permitted to enable enhancements such as increased frame-rates up to 120 frames-per-second, quicker loading times thanks to the system's SSD and increasing resolutions up to 4K to name a few. The backward compatibility lineup at launch will consist of "thousands" of Xbox One titles, along with all previously backward compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles to date. Certain Xbox One titles will also support the Xbox Series X's "Smart Delivery" feature.
Xbox Series X will launch in "Holiday 2020".
Source: Xbox Wire