“Nearly 50%” Of Xbox One Owners Play Backwards Compatible Content

We don’t post a lot of console-related news and content at Techgage, but there have been some exceptions over the years. Most recently, I purchased a PlayStation 4 Pro, and in addition to the full review, I talked about the 60 FPS vs. 4K angle and performed some in-depth performance testing – namely revolving around using the console with an SSD.

Fast-forward to Black Friday. A good friend of mine that I game online with often (on PS4) decided out of nowhere to switch to an Xbox One S. Since Black Friday deals were rather alluring, I decided to pick one up, too, and follow-up on that HDD vs. SSD article in the new year featuring both consoles. However, there were more reasons than just following a friend and doing some future SSD testing – the Xbox One S offered a couple of other unique perks that spoke to me. Such as emulation.

Burnout Paradise is an Xbox 360 game playable on Xbox One

When I bought an Xbox 360 at launch, one of the features that had me most excited was the backwards-compatibility. Being able to play my original Xbox games on the new console was simply amazing. The same could be said about the PlayStation 3 – I loved the fact that I could play both my PSone and PS2 titles on it. Today, Sony doesn’t give us that luxury. It instead expects us to shell out ~$10 to rebuy the games. How accommodating.

Without question, I think the Xbox One is the more limited of the two consoles, but the fact that it supports hundreds of Xbox 360 titles is amazing to me, and it’s one of the features that made me ultimately take the plunge. I have a rather sizeable collection of Xbox 360 games (30~40), and I’d like to replay as many of them as I can, without having to have a dedicated Xbox 360 hooked up.

Now over 300 back compat titles. Nearly 50% of XB1 owners playing BC games is great to see. Thanks for supporting the program.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 13, 2016

Well, it looks like I’m not alone with my emulation love. According to Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, nearly 50% of Xbox One owners have taken advantage of its backwards compatibility feature. Count me in – in the 10 or so days I’ve owned the console, I’ve played Trials HD, Jet Set Radio, and SSX is on the agenda.

The great thing about this feature is that it’s continually being added to. New supported titles are being added to the list all of the time, and I’m holding out hope that some Tony Hawk games will soon make an appearance. If only Sony decided to take the same route as Microsoft here…