Xbox Original Games Could Be Playable On Xbox One Someday

Xbox One's backwards compatibility might not be limited to Xbox 360 games. Microsoft's Xbox boss Phil Spencer says that the console could eventually run Xbox Original games as well.

Spencer said on Twitter that supporting games from the eldest Xbox console is a frequent topic of conversation at Microsoft:

The Xbox 360 was able to run Xbox Original games, though this backwards compatibility was uneven. Not every game was playable and some of the games that could run on Xbox 360 experienced crippling issues like choppy framerates, long loading times or freezing. If Microsoft does add support for Xbox Original titles, hopefully it's more consistent.

I'm curious whether Xbox Live Originals will be playable on Xbox One. Xbox Live Originals are downloaded games from the first Xbox that were emulated so they could be playable on Xbox 360. There were about three dozen of these games, including some big-names titles like Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne. If they're already playable on Xbox 360, it should be easy enough to bring them to Xbox One as well, right?

It's true that Xbox 360 backwards compatibility the bigger priority, though. Microsoft sold around 60 million more Xbox 360s than Originals. People are much more likely to be upgrading to Xbox One from Xbox 360 than from Xbox Original. At least one of the purposes for backwards compatibility is to make this upgrade to a new console as easy as possible. The feature tells consumers, "If you buy an Xbox One, you can keep playing those shelves of Xbox 360 games you bought over the past few years."

The real question, though, is how long it's going to take Microsoft to "finish" Xbox 360's backwards compatibility. The feature is launching in November but will only support around 100 games at first. There are over 1,100 games on Xbox 360 and making all of them playable on Xbox One could take awhile. At what point would Microsoft consider adding Xbox Original backwards compatibility to their workload?

Xbox One's backwards compatibility will also players to use digital or physical copies of Xbox 360 games in their console. These games won't have upgraded visuals but they will utilize Xbox One features like broadcasting and screenshot capture. Xbox One owners can also play these games online with Xbox 360 owners. Progress and achievements from these games will carry over from Xbox 360 to Xbox One.

If you're curious whether your favorite Xbox 360 game can be played on Xbox One, check out this list of supported games. We'll keep updating it over time as Microsoft adds support for more Xbox 360 games.