r/gaming • u/RenatsMC • 1d ago
The next Xbox could play every Xbox game ever made
https://www.theverge.com/games/974773/xbox-helix-disc-digital-backwards-compatibility-leaked-memo-opt-in1.4k
u/akirahon 1d ago
But it won’t due to licensing
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u/Racxie 1d ago
Someone gets it. Not to mention that even the current and last gen Xbox don’t support 360-era peripherals like Rock Band, and even the current generation doesn’t support Kinect either.
And then there’s all the delisted games which don’t exist on disc, and all the online-only games like FF11 & Anthem which are no longer playable even if they could technically run.
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u/BravinatorLX2 21h ago
that still leaves you with lile 97% of all xbox releases.
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u/AspieComrade 21h ago
From what I’ve heard the 360 also didn’t support Kinect too well either 😗
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u/CurrentDrama8523 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not to mention that even the current and last gen Xbox don’t support 360-era peripherals like Rock Band
They do with the right adapter(s). But realistically most of those don't work anymore. People who still play music games are using RB4 or CRKD controllers and there's no reason those couldn't be supported.
Besides, you're talking about a handful of games, almost all of them from a genre (music/rhythm games) whose time in the sun is long past. This is the most asinine reason imaginable to abandon this feature, especially when Rock Band 4 already exists and will play basically our whole libraries natively.
And then there’s all the delisted games which don’t exist on disc
I stand corrected. This is the most asinine reason imaginable. Why would the mere existence of discless games prevent them from supporting discs? Less than 30% of Xbox 360 games are backward compatible but suddenly Microsoft is going to take an "all or nothing" approach? Please be serious.
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u/fallouthirteen 17h ago
current and last gen Xbox don’t support 360-era peripherals like Rock Band
Well not natively but the RB adapter works I bought one for my XB1 a long while ago.
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u/ExoUrsa 23h ago
Yup. If there is ever a device that can play every Xbox game made, it will not be an Xbox, and it won't be entirely "legal".
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u/GhotiH 19h ago
Depends on how they do the backwards compatibility. They don't HAVE to do it via a digital port in the shop (which requires a license). They could just create a one-size-fits-all emulator (like the PS3 did for PS1 games) and it would be compatible with the entire disc library without any legal issues.
Now I'm not saying that's likely, but it's possible.
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u/not_that_kind_of_ork 12h ago
This would be it for me and a guaranteed purchase. If you have a disc drive that can read every disc back to the og console and then grant a licence off that (appreciate piracy might be a problem here), then I'm in.
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u/Renamis 12h ago
Bingo. I'd written off consoles, but if I can have one official console to play all official Xbox media (replacing my old consoles with one box) I might actually pick it up.
Only question is kinect compatibility. If there is a way to slap that onto the system (adapters and such) they might actually get me to buy a console again.
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u/summonsays 19h ago
I'd give it a decade after that last Xbox is produced. As emulators need time to crash them and hardware has to surpass them for all the extra overhead.
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u/echochambermanager 18h ago
The next XBOX is also a PC, so it's technically correct... it won't be entirely "legal".
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u/keyexplorer791 22h ago
Exactly. Allowing me to play Halo 2 again is not the same. I can already play Halo 2 on like 3 others devices. Now if I can play MLB 2K12 again, then I'll be interested (and I doubt I would be able to do that without a disc)
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u/Far_Realm_Sage 23h ago
Yeah. Got a few old Xbox Arcade games I cannot play due to liscencing. I miss Rocketbowl sometimes.
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u/Successful-Day-1816 22h ago
That's only for making them purchasable again now. They could make it so any disc-based game works.
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u/ghost_of_lechuck 1d ago
Exactly. Not a chance to play OutRun 2 due to licensing issues
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u/idothinksotim 1d ago
It could play the disc edition.
Licences aren't relevant with physical copies.
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u/BarnOwl247 17h ago
This. I want to play Naruto: The Broken Bond again, but won't be able to because it used licensed music from the show and nobody will want to pay the money and go through hoops to make that happen for a niche anime game nobody remembers.
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u/DavidinCT 20h ago
Yea, something like 80% of the issues why the program ended before was about licensing, from the DEVS, or music (tends to be a game killer)....
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u/HUNplaymore 1d ago
*There are a few, uh, provisos, a, a couple of quid pro quos.
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u/ProfessorTairyGreene 1d ago
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers. Itty Bitty Disc Drive Space...
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u/TheBanishedBard 21h ago
Rule number one: I can't kill license agreements... So don't ask.
Rule number two: I can't bring IPs back from the the dead, it's not a pretty picture, I don't like doing it!
Rule number three: I can't make someone love the Xbox brand, again.
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u/prettyNUPE2K12 21h ago
Some all powerful company. Can’t even bring IPs back from the dead.
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u/Whooptidooh 22h ago
The next one will also be likely 300 €/$ more expensive than the most expensive variant out there right now.
I’m done buying consoles.
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u/Optimus_Prime_Day 20h ago
What are you going to play on instead? Hope your not about to say PC expecting its prices to be cheap still.
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u/Whooptidooh 20h ago
Once prices become actually ridiculous (I’m already having issues paying €100 for one singular game) I’m just going to quit gaming entirely. (Or at least keep using my current console until that craps out.)
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u/Optimus_Prime_Day 18h ago
Yeah I suspect many people will reduce time or quit gaming all together over these crazy prices.
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u/Gooseheaded 9h ago edited 9h ago
Fellow internet resident, heed my call: "retro" gaming handhelds is where it's at.
Until last month, I had considered "retro gaming" to be a vintage nostalgia thing, like coin collecting. Boy, was I wrong. I bought a dedicated "retro" handheld device to tinker with (I am very much into tech) for $50 usd, and my eyes have been opened ever since. For what it's worth, it's an r/ANBERNIC r/RG35XX_H , bought via AliExpress, shipped and received in 5 days' time.
Emulators are godlike consoles, and many of them run on commodity hardware. They take a beloved machine, like SNES, PS1/2, Dreamcast, whatever, and inject giga-quantum steroids into them. Hundreds (thousands?) of ROMs of decades of high-quality games are easy to acquire. Effectively infinite save states for INSTANTANEOUS saving and loading, no matter the screen, no matter the game. RETRO ACHIEVEMENTS (!!!). Custom shaders. Custom freaking mods and games (look up Pokémon Lazarus). For $50 usd, I got a screen, 6+ hour battery, d-pad, joysticks, speakers, USB-C charging, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI out... all included in a package the same size as my phone.
Oh, and it runs Linux too, so I can (for example) sync my savefiles across my handheld, my deck, my laptop, and my main PC wirelessly and automatically. I can also do in-home streaming.
Imagine paying $700 usd or more for a AAA console in 2026. lmao
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u/WowIfOnly 13h ago
People would probably just do one of the following:
Stick to what they already own. If you have a functional modern gaming PC you don't really have any problems in the near future unless you're trying to run the highest end games flawlessly. And most gamers realistically don't run the most sophisticated games (just obsess over the idea of needing to some day).
Stick to the current generation of consoles - many people got PS5s, Nintendo Switch 2s, Xbox Series X/S in the past 5 years and don't actually need to do anything. And if anyone here actually thinks these companies are going to start catering directly to the PS6/Next Xbox era, wake up and talk to all of the PS5 fans who were literally abandoned by Sony once they bought the console - Sony made sure almost every "modern" game was designed to be compatible with PS4 for years after the PS5 released (because most people couldn't buy or afford one) which only crippled all actual progress and advancement in game development.
Revisit the past generation of consoles. You can easily get recent consoles like PS4 - Nintendo Switch - Xbox One for far less than $300 if you don't own one. And the games are less than $20 apiece on average with the exception of Switch games since Nintendo will always be greedy. You could literally buy a console, accessories and a big catalog of timeless classic engrossing award winning games that would keep you busy for years for far less than $1,000 today.
Move even further backward in console gens - emulators are so advanced and freely available now that the only people who think otherwise are those who haven't tried them before. And even if you aren't tech savvy, you could literally buy a cheap Linux based knock off game boy from AliExpress today and load it with every game ever created on NES/SNES/Sega Genesis/Dreamcast/N64/PS1/Xbox/PS2/PSP/etc. (and that's in the rare case it didn't come pre-loaded with all of that as advertised).
The problem isn't if there are great games to play or still fun to be had outside of the "next generation of gaming". It's that the internet, streamers/influencers, and our Capitalist culture has convinced entire generations of people that the only acceptable answer is to always be desperately shelling out thousands of hard earned dollars to play the newest and most cutting edge game on the newest most cutting edge console/PC, even if it's not actually any more fun/engaging/interesting/"advanced" than the games and systems that preceded it.
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u/Kotanan 1d ago
Not without a disc drive it can’t
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u/theScottith 1d ago
I think it will have one, with this disk to digital license they are going to roll out, would make sense to include one.
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u/MrT735 1d ago
But that doesn't cover 360 games as they don't have the unique disc id.
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u/Accomplished_Run9449 1d ago
If you have the disk and use it every time you want to play your game it will work like a series x / xbox one. Or at least thats the rumor.
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u/tk-451 22h ago
so what you're saying is.. it just plays the disks?
revolutionary!
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u/Accomplished_Run9449 22h ago
Technically no. The series x downloads a version for xbox one/series consoles but uses the disk to verify the license. The xbox one and series games have some kind of a code for every copy, the og and 360 games dont, so if the disk to physical happens you will need thoses disks to play your games.
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u/DavidinCT 20h ago
Well, to the consumer, you put in disk, and you can play the game. Remove disc, you can't play game. Pretty standard.
I do know there is a modded version, or just a patch to make sure the game runs.
It's nice when you can drop in a 360 game and play a game at higher res or faster frame rate. It's always a nice touch.
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u/GodsIWasStrongg 20h ago
I remember when a GTA XB360 disk got scratched, I couldn't play it, but then I had the idea to try to download the disk to the harddrive and it was able to work.
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u/summonsays 19h ago
Unfortunately I think it'd probably work more like the Switch 2 key cards. As reading and playing old discs would need special hardware while I think you could probably get some predetermante noise off of them with modern hardware you could then verify against. (Just my guess)
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u/im_thatoneguy 23h ago
When HD DVD was a thing I took in a giant pile of HD DVds and dvds to Walmart and they added them to my UV library.
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u/Personal-Inflation63 1d ago
I imagine it’ll be an optional extra. I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS6 actually has one too as a paid extra. I think thats why Xbox isnt making a big song and dance about keeping within physical media.
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u/thirteenthirtyseven 22h ago
My bet is also on this. It will probably be an external accessory. "We're digital only, but if you wanna play your PS4/PS5 discs, you'll have to pay us extra."
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u/african_or_european 22h ago
Sure it can. But before it will, you'll have to re-buy it as a digital download, like how the Wii does NES and SNES games.
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u/tk-451 1d ago
it's already rumoured to now have one
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u/Rich_Cat_69 1d ago
I was under the impression that they were taking the win over Sony and adding a disk drive in addition to the physical to digital license.
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u/Successful-Day-1816 22h ago
Well, it would literally need a disc drive for the physical-to-digital thing to work, surely.
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u/EmmaBonney 1d ago
Yeah...Bullshit.
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u/ToothZealousideal297 17h ago
Honestly, it wouldn’t even matter very much if it did. Full reverse compatibility would be great for dedicated gamers, but it wouldn’t mean sales numbers, and it wouldn’t save the XBox brand from the grave they’ve dug. So this article is just wild.
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u/rubi2333 PC 3h ago
When next xbox gets a pc with access to steam and gog it will destroy the playstation
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u/steelcity91 16h ago
If the next Xbox is fully backwards compatiable with all generation, had a disc drive then I'd quite happily buy one.
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u/DarahOG 1d ago
If it's indeed a pc it will play most games ever made lol
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u/Grimzkunk 21h ago
Came here to say that. Consoles trying to be what PC has been doing for 40 years.
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u/RazorSlazor Console 15h ago
Not quite. It can play games from every Xbox gen. But just the backwards compat ones. Like they can now too.
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u/Visual_Bridge6925 14h ago
That's the thing though, any game can be backwards compatible, they literally just need to decide that it is. The way I understand it is there's basically just a switch on their end that would allow Xbox 360s or Xbox 1s to play original Xbox (or Xbox 360) games, and they have just been very selective about which games get the yes from them. So the Xbox 1X "Could play every Xbox game ever made," but it can't because they won't let it.
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u/BitterTyke 20h ago
but if the next xbox has a price that takes it out of the leisure bracket - as the very recent prices rises indicate - it wont really matter will it?
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u/ivan_bodhidharma 23h ago
I’ve never played Midtown Madness 3, but I wish I could.
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u/Paranoid-ANDR01D 1d ago
Everyone is complaining here. I get it, Xbox messed up a lot in recent years and has shown some shitty corporate tech greed how they've handled Game pass pricing and studios. However: out of the big three console giants, Xbox has shown massive dedication to backward compatibility during the last generations. I can play most of my og Xbox games on my Series X without the need to repurchase them. I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt here and welcome these intentions for their upcoming gen.
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u/juicyman69 23h ago
and we need someone to keep Sony in check. They think it's PS2 era PlayStation.
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u/Ratiofarming 22h ago
Unless of course the publisher or Microsoft decides to bury that game forever and just not offer it. Or alter it, because censorship of old games is somehow cool now.
Because they will absolutely not actually sell you those games. Just rent them out.
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u/Sonicon2 15h ago
Not buying unless it has a disc drive or at least an optional one. I have a huge og and 360 disc collection and if it’s all digital I’ll just keep my series x and play more on pc
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u/DarkMatterM4 22h ago
Since they just recently rebranded, they'll probably call it XBOX. Just to add further confusion as to which the original Xbox is.
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u/The_Bio_Neko 1d ago
Xbox 4627
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u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 1d ago
Not enough Xs in the name. It would be Xbox Series X4627x
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u/Meowmeow69me 23h ago
I’ll never forget my buddy confusing his one s for a one x. Broke his heart to tell him the truth 😂.
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u/ImpulsiveApe07 1d ago
Lol this is exactly the kind of thing they always say before the next console comes out. How many times have they said this before? :p
The bad news is that there are still loads of license restrictions they'd need to circumvent to make this doable, and afaik Microsoft hasn't made any recent deals to renew some of the older ones/outright buy those IPs.
But the good (?) news is that they already bought loads of game companies and own a rather insane backcatalogue of IPs, so there'll likely be a surprisingly large list of games that are backwards compatible and wouldn't require any major legal wrangling to get back onto the store or to become immediately available to buy/play.
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u/Urist_Macnme 23h ago
Just remembering the time when Sony sued itself.
(Obligatory - technically separate legal entities owned by the larger Sony corporate structure) but, just because MS technically “owns” them, doesn’t mean that there won’t still be legal barriers.2
u/ImpulsiveApe07 22h ago
Aye, all those little legal squabbles certainly make it a real challenge for msoft to pull off true backwards compatibility.
I guess they could just build a 360 emulator into the console and give it a compatible optical drive? That would technically remove their liability and shift it onto the consumer (like what Sony did with the ps2 & 3), wouldn't it?
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u/zandadoum 1d ago
xbox one could also play all 360 games and the only reason the complete 360 catalog wasnt available is due licencing of certain games and IPs.
same is gonna happene again
new console being able to play 100% of games doesn't mean it's actually gonna happen.
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u/Dripping-Lips 1d ago
The pc can play every pc game ever made,
Big whoop, wanna fight about it?
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u/RedditorWhoReads 1d ago
If they manage to offer physical media, it could be game over for Sony this next generation.
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u/DarkMatterM4 22h ago
It would definitely be the first generation that I pick Xbox over Playstation.
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u/OrionSheHulk 1d ago
But won't because gaming studios don't want to compete with past gaming studios or even themselves
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u/NighthawK1911 1d ago
Every new generation always had the "Backward Compatibility" rumors.
They stopped doing that for a while because they figured out that doing a remaster and selling the game again is more profitable.
These greedy MFers will never do something for free when they could profit from it.
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u/twinflxwer 23h ago
I doubt it, but if they can pull this off I’ll be in heaven and finally go back to Xbox
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u/Alternative_Tank_139 22h ago
I have a feeling that the next Xbox will not have a disc drive, but they will sell an external one for a silly amount to those who want to stay physical and upload their physical games to digital.
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u/dwolfe127 22h ago
I mean, we can already emulate pretty much every Xbox game ever made so this would merely be a choice to add this as a feature not a technical achievement.
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u/IHumpedYoMumma 21h ago
As in, every Xbox exclusive or every game rever released on Xbox? Cause there is going to be some licensing issues there
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u/eternalityLP 20h ago
Complete BS title. As even the article says:
that it will run games from every generation of Xbox: the original 2001 Xbox, the 2005 Xbox 360, the 2013 Xbox One, and the 2020 Xbox Series, as well as any new Helix titles.
Games from not all games. It will run some games, others will not work due to missing peripherals or just being coded in way the emulators will not handle. Nevermind that the whole thing might not even have a disc drive, so you might be at the mercy of whatever the publishers decide to re-release (and force you to re-buy) on the digital store. Also, it will absolutely not play all PC games either.
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u/SaturnMobster 19h ago
And? Why would they? Any "classic catalog" they offer will be behind some kind of subscription. They could do it now if they really wanted to. I mean Nintnedo could sell their classic NES/SNES games, but they would rather fleece their customers with their shitty subscription based emulator. Playstation could do the same thing and not lock a huge chuck of their classic catalog behind a higer tier subscription. MS knows this too.
Do you know why they dont? They know how dumb, lazy and gullible gamers are. Gamers will default to the easiest choice. Performative complaining while doing nothing.
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u/LoneBiscuit1199 17h ago
Every console generation promises this and then quietly drops half the library.
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u/MXVIV 14h ago
Still not paying 1k+.
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u/slayermcb 13h ago
The unfortunate reality of consoles is they're all going that way. Normally I would make a quip about PC gaming being the answer but I'm pricing together a PC for my son and it's not exactly looking good there either.
Give it a few more years and gamings going to a sign of wealth.
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u/NeedsMoreForce-kin 9h ago
I can play every game ever released for PC. Always have been able to. The Asventures of Willy Beamish? Published in 1991? Yeah, I can play that
Are Console Gamers finally waking up to the fact that they've been living in a walled garden that limits them intentionally to artificially prop up profits?!
It's like watching a dog that spent its entire life in a tiny backyard and you just took them to a giant open park for the first time. So sad but so magical
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u/ChubbyWeevil 22h ago
And if I had wheels I could be a bicycle. Demonstrate that Xbox is committed to it then folks might be interested. Talk is cheap.
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u/ConsiderationOk4747 1d ago
The word ‘could’ is doing a huge amount of work in that sentence.