XBOX ONE is Not Backwards Compatible

During the XBOX ONE Reveal conference, many fans eagerly awaited announcements on the console’s capability to play (or not play) games from the XBOX 360.

Although not revealed during the conference, Marc Whitten said in an interview with the Verge that the new console will not be compatible with its predecessor. He says this is due to the architecture of the XBOX ONE being built differently from that of the XBOX 360.

While it is disappointing to hear this, the lack of backwards compatibility is nothing new. Sony’s Playstation 4 is unable to play Playstation 3 games with its hardware, although Sony is looking into allowing players to access older games through either emulation or streaming.

This issue definitely won’t make or break the XBOX ONE, but coupled with its fee for used games and the possibility of it being online only, things are not looking great for the relationship between Microsoft and hardcore gamers.