Xbox One Update: Microsoft Considering Backward Compatibility For Xbox One

Disappointed you can’t play any of your Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One? Fret not. Microsoft is still considering adding backward compatibility to its next-gen Xbox One.

In an interview last week at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference in San Francisco, development lead Frank Savage said there are plans to bring support for last-gen games to the Xbox One, which came out in November. “We’re not done thinking them through yet, unfortunately,” Savage said.

There may be an issue with bringing PowerPC-based Xbox 360 software to the 8-core x86 processor that powers the Xbox One. Though many players believe that gaming companies skip backward compatibility to boost current console game sales, efficient backward compatibility can be tricky and result in glitches and bugs.

Microsoft also noted that the Xbox platform is connected to 80 million televisions worldwide, and that the average Xbox One owner uses the console five hours a day.

The Redmond, Wash., company said that new TV tools are in the works for the Xbox One, including DVR control and a universal Windows app that will give developers the power to create one app for tablets, Windows PCs, Windows phones and the Xbox One. "What we're going to enable is your universal Windows applications running on the Xbox," Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president of operating systems, said.

Microsoft said that it sold 2.27 million Xbox One and Xbox 360 games in January, representing about a 47 percent share of the software sales market.

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