In an effort to earn some brownie points with consumers, and convince previous Xbox 360 owners to finally upgrade, the Xbox One introduced backwards compatibility. Since coming out Microsoft has upgraded it’s list of games month by month, adding a handful of new titles each time. However that is about to change. Alongside a new list of backwards capable titles the, Xbox One will now get new titles as they are ready. That means no more waiting around for someone to tweet out a new list of new games every month.
This will make a bit more difficult to keep track of what is suddenly able to run on an Xbox One and what isn’t. If you don’t know, these old 360 games aren’t chosen by Microsoft, they’re chosen by the game’s publisher and/or developer. This takes the responsibility off Microsoft’s shoulders, since they have the technology available, and leaves the messy cobweb of rights and ownership on whomever is holding the current license. Something like Witcher 2, which is free until Feb. 5th, can be easily ported since CD Project Red is the game’s sole developer and publisher. Whereas Rock Band 2 would be a bit more difficult since MTV Games is no longer around and the added headache of music licensing.
You’re best bet is to occasionally check out this list via Major Nelson. Hopefully it stays up to date with everything that goes into the system from here on out.
