The Complete Updated List Of Backwards-Compatible Games For Xbox One The Sony PlayStation 4 isn’t technically backward-compatible at all (though some older games are playable through other services–it gets confusing another post for another day), but Microsoft has added backward-compatibility to select games, a list that continues to grow since the program was introduced in 2017. Unless they’re backward-compatible, that’s exactly what happens with video games.Ī Brief History Of Backward-Compatibility On Video Game Consolesīackward-compatibility is something that Microsoft chose to bring to the Xbox One that Sony did not with the PlayStation 4.Įarly versions of the PlayStation 3 were backward-compatible (meaning it played PlayStation 2 games in addition to PS3), but making that happen was complex, and Sony ditched the project altogether with later versions of the console.
Imagine having eBooks you suddenly can’t read because a new Kindle came out –Books that can only be read on ‘old’ Kindles? It also makes it a big deal when a new system is released because unless you want to keep multiple generations of consoles hooked up in your entertainment center, when you buy that shiny new system, your old games become unplayable.
This means the software and hardware are more ‘married’ on consoles than they are on PC. Unlike computer games, video game consoles have to be designed with the unique nature of each platform in mind (which is why ‘porting’–making a game designed for the Xbox One also ‘work’ on the Sony PlayStation–isn’t an exact science).
Since video game consoles change significantly between versions (between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, for example), hardware changes usually mean that a game designed for an old system won’t work on newer systems. In short, a backward-compatible game is a game from a previous version of a video game console that is also playable on later versions.