And it gets better.
Following Bethesda’s E3 conference from yesterday, Microsoft made waves at E3 with a series of fantastic announcements and reveals — but nothing was more remarkable than the new backwards compatibility that was announced.
Almost all games downloaded to your Xbox 360 console can now come straight over to your Xbox One console. There will be no additional cost to gamers — “we won’t charge you to play your games” and all saved data, add-ons, and achievements will remain when you play it on the Xbox One.
Another surprising aspect of the news is that each game will remain fully functional online. Multiplayer will work just as it would on the 360 console itself.
This feature will begin rolling out to the public this holiday season, but Xbox Preview members can check it out right now with a limited selection.
While not all games are included from the start during this holiday season, the vast majority will be and the rest will slowly be ported over time. Mass Effect, Halo: Reach, Perfect Dark Zero, and so many other favorite games from the previous generation will now be available on the Xbox One.
The attitude of the announcement was very confident as they took some fairly evident shots at the PlayStation 4’s streaming service which allows gamers to play previous games for $3 per five hours. Though the confidence that Microsoft spoke with was with good reason.
For all Xbox 360 owners that were on the fence this is a major swaying factor for them to turn to the Xbox One with their current games remaining playable on the console.
Combining this with the new $125 price tag that gamers can get when turning in their Xbox 360 or PS3, Phil Spencer and Microsoft has steadied the Xbox One in the gaming ecosystem and is poised to take a massive demographic to their new generation console.