Xbox brings four OG games to PC via its backward compatibility program

Microsoft extends its Xbox backward compatibility program to PC: four games from the "OG Xbox" era (2001-2005) arrive on Windows via the Xbox app.

What we're talking about

Microsoft continues its major project of preserving Xbox heritage and reaches a milestone that many were waiting for: backward compatibility - previously limited to Xbox Series consoles - is now open to PC (Windows 11 and handhelds). The launch (early release) starts with four games from the "OG Xbox" era:

• BLiNX: The Time Sweeper (Artoon, 2002)
• Conker: Live and Reloaded (Rare, 2005)
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (FASA / Microsoft, 2003)
• Fuzion Frenzy (Blitz Games, 2001)

All with upscaling up to 4× the original resolution. In practice, the user finds in their Xbox application an entry "Backward Compatibility" that gives access to these titles, in their in-house emulated version - the same one that already runs on Xbox Series X|S.

Our take

We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The OG Xbox catalog contains cult exclusives - Jade Empire, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Otogi, Ninja Gaiden Black, Voodoo Vince - which, are not on the menu for this PC launch. These games are still almost impossible to play legally on modern hardware without going through a period console and a CRT screen. We would have liked to see them in the inaugural list.

Opening backward compatibility to PC changes the game for three reasons:

1. Preservation becomes a viable option for the end user, without going through community emulation (Xemu, CXBX-R) - which remains excellent but in a gray legal area.
2. The PC finally becomes a universal Xbox player: Xbox Series, Xbox One (via streaming), 360 (via the Xbox app) and now OG.
3. Original developers receive royalties on sales, which gives an incentive to see the list grow.

Useful comparison: Sony runs (with difficulty) a PS2 emulation on PS5 for a few PS Plus Premium titles; Nintendo does not offer anything equivalent on PC. Microsoft takes a real editorial advantage here - even if the catalog remains, for now, very limited.

The weak point

Four games, that's little. Very little. Compared to the hundreds of OG titles playable on Xbox Series, the PC starting point looks like a trial balloon. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft opens the tap or whether the negotiations of rights (especially large Japanese licenses, where the rights holders are fragmented) cap the expansion.

Another notable absence: nothing on the modern PC version of Halo 2 (already available via MCC), nor an automatic bridge for owners of original discs (unlike what the Xbox Series allows by inserting an OG disc in some cases).

Verdict

8/10 - The principle is excellent, the technical execution is also (Microsoft's emulation of the OG Xbox is solid, including 4× upscaling), but the scope of the catalog at launch makes us wince. We take this as a first step: it's up to Microsoft to prove that there will be a second, a third, a tenth.

• To remember: Xbox finally makes four OG games playable on PC (Windows 11 + handhelds) via the Xbox app, upscaling up to 4× - preservation enters the official store.
• For whom: old fans of Xbox 2001-2005 exclusives, collectors who want legal digital versions, and curious people who have never put their hands on an OG pad.