Microsoft announced Xbox One was getting Xbox 360 backwards compatibility at E3 this year, a feature everyone but Nintendo moved away from this hardware generation. We haven’t heard much since, so we decided to ask a bunch of game publishers about some of their biggest games.
On Microsoft’s Xbox Feedback page, it’s possible for fans to vote for which games they’d like to see made backwards compatible. It’s not a guarantee, but it does provide hope for those who’d like a chance to play Red Dead Redemption again. (In another dimension, there’s a PC version!)
The biggest ones?
I scrolled through the list and took note of every game that has more than 5,000 votes. That doesn’t cover every game people are hoping makes the cut — sorry, BlowOut at 71 votes — but it represents most of the major games people would like to play on their new Xbox hardware.
Of course, publishers aren’t being asked to port their games to Xbox One. Microsoft is doing the heavy lifting here, having some up with a way to get the old games to run on new hardware. So while some games may get priority over others (see: Fallout 3 getting announced at E3 during Fallout 4‘s presentation), we thought it was worth checking in to see if discussions had started.
Square Enix
Some of the best games from last generation came out of the merged Square Enix and Eidos Interactive. Sadly, the company didn’t have much to say, and pointed me towards Microsoft.
With Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider, the company has released updates for new platforms.
- Just Cause 2
- Tomb Raider
- Hitman: Absolution
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Final Fantasy XIII
- Sleeping Dogs
Capcom
Technically, games like Resident Evil 4 as ports from an even earlier generation, which I feel might be creating a ripple in the time-space continuum.
“Nothing has been confirmed at this time,” said a company spokesperson.
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil 5
- Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition
- Dead Rising
- Dead Rising 2
- Resident Evil 6
- Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
- Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Ubisoft
The company with nearly the most games above the vote threshold — EA beat them by a game — but they didn’t comment. People sure like Assassin’s Creed, though, and want to play more.
- Assassin’s Creed 2
- Assassin’s Creed 3
- Assassin’s Creed Rogue
- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
- Assassin’s Creed
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
- Assassins Creed Liberation HD
- South Park
- Far Cry 3
- Splinter Cell Blacklist
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
- Splinter Cell Conviction
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Deep Silver
This question should have been targeted at THQ, former owner of Saints Row, but Deep Silver took it over in the last few years, after THQ financially imploded. It’s looking good, though!
“We’re currently exploring the options for backwards compatibility,” said a spokesperson.
- Saints Row: The Third
- Saints Row 2
Konami
I’m not sure who exactly is voting for a chance to play Silent Hill: HD Collection again, but I don’t blame people for wanting Metal Gear to make the jump, with the next game coming soon.
“Glad to hear about all the titles that folks are voting for,” said a spokesperson, “but unfortunately we don’t have any info to share around this.”
- Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3: HD Edition
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Edition
- Silent Hill: HD Collection
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Namco Bandai
Here’s one publisher who might not actually want you to play some of its previous games on new hardware, since they recently updated Dark Souls 2 to the Scholar of the First Sin Edition on both PS4 and Xbox One. My guess is plenty are still looking to play the the original game.
Whether or not that happens is an open question, as Namco Bandai did not respond to me.
- Dark Souls
- Tales of Vesperia
- Dark Souls 2
Nordic Games
Like Deep Silver, this is another game franchise switching hands, thanks to THQ’s disappearance. Nordic Games took over Darksiders, and it’s currently retooling the second game for a re-release on current platforms. That said, it’s interested in backwards compatibility.
“Nordic Games can’t confirm anything just yet,” said a spokesperson. “They would like to make as much of their back-catalogue compatible, including Darksiders II, but the program is still new and they need more information to properly assess the process before announcing anything.”
- Darksiders 2
Sega
There hasn’t been much love for Sega console games in a while, but we have them to thank for bringing Bayonetta to life, even if Nintendo ended up saving the franchise’s sequel hopes.
“We have no concrete plans at this time,” said a company representative, “but it’s awesome to see the fan support for Bayonetta. We’ll investigate how we can support this internally.”
- Bayonetta
Koei Tecmo
We haven’t heard about the future of Ninja Gaiden the disastrous Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, but before Tomonobu Itagaki left the studio, he delivered the wonderfully difficult Ninja Gaiden 2.
Unfortunately, the company didn’t get back to me when I asked about the game getting support.
- Ninja Gaiden 2
CD Projekt RED
The Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2 is where I jumped into the franchise, and it was an excellent port of that game. Though the studio didn’t get back to me about backwards compatibility, if you take a close look at Microsoft’s E3 press conference, you can spot the game:
It’s towards the start of the chain, right in front of Assassin’s Creed. That’s not quite confirmation, but it’s better than nothing, and shows it’s certainly on Microsoft’s radar.
- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Electronic Arts
The company with the most games on the list, according to my threshold, there are tons of EA games people would like to be playing. Mass Effect was even shown at Microsoft’s E3 event.
While EA didn’t get back to me — my email was forwarded along to someone, then promptly vanished into the digital void — there’s signs they are looking into backwards compatibility.
Yes, we ARE talking to Microsoft about making XBox 360 Burnout Paradise available on XBox One via backwards-compatibility! More news soon!
— CriterionGames (@CriterionGames) July 6, 2015
The full list of games, however, is much larger.
- Mass Effect
- Mass Effect 2
- Mass Effect 3
- Battlefield 3
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Skate 3
- Mirror’s Edge
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Dragon Age 2
- Dead Space
- Dead Space 3
- Dead Space 2
- Burnout Paradise
- Need For Speed Most Wanted
- Crysis 3
- Dante’s Inferno
Disney/LucasArts
LucasArts doesn’t exist anymore, so by default, Disney now owns the rights to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel. I tried scraping up some information, but didn’t have any luck.
-
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Warner Bros.
It’s possible Warner Bros. just doesn’t want to talk to me right now, but it also seems like most companies are only beginning to explore how backwards compatibility will impact their catalogue. But like EA, there are vocal developers already telling fans that it’s being looked into.
With Xbox1 (360) backwards compatibility… I wonder if it’s safe for us to announce MK9 & Injustice for “Xbox1” 😉
— Ed Boon (@noobde) June 15, 2015
We’ll have to see how that shakes out.
- Batman Arkham City
- Arkham Asylum
- Arkham Origins
- Injustice: Gods Among Us
- Mortal Kombat
- LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Valve
It’s true, Valve used to release video games. It feels like a long time ago, but according to a Wikipedia entry, it was once a semi-regular event for the company that founded Steam.
The studio did not respond to my question about backwards compatibility.
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Portal 2
- The Orange Box
- Left 4 Dead
- Portal: Still Alive
Bethesda Softworks
If there’s proof of preferential treatment in the games being prioritised for backwards compatibility, it’s probably evident in Bethesda being able to promise Fallout 3 would come free for anyone who bought Fallout 4 on Xbox One later this year.
As for the rest of the company’s lineup? We’ll have to wait and see. They didn’t get back to me.
- Skyrim
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Dishonored
- Oblivion
- DOOM
Take-Two Interactive/Rockstar Games
There are a ton of games at the top of the list for both companies (if you’re not aware, Take-Two Interactive owns Rockstar Games). We already know Borderlands is coming, since Microsoft has demonstrated the game in action already, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the others do, too.
They’re not yet commenting on what might else might be coming.
- Bioshock Infinite
- BioShock
- Borderlands
- BioShock 2
- Borderlands 2
- Mafia II
- Civilisation Revolution
- Red Dead Redemption
- GTA 4
- GTA: San Andreas
- GTA 5
- LA Noire
- Max Payne 3
Activision
One has to imagine the company is considering some HD remasters of its previous blockbuster Call of Duty games, but we haven’t heard any rumblings about that just yet. It’s hardly shocking some of the biggest games from last generation are games people want to keep playing now.
However, as was the case with many other companies, they didn’t respond to my requests.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: World at War
- Call of Duty: Call of Duty 2
- Call of Duty: Call of Duty 3
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
And while that does it for now, but I’ll be keeping an eye on backwards compatibility in the weeks and months ahead. Right now, it’s not available for all Xbox One owners — that’s later this year — and I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more game announcements as that gets closer.
You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.
Comments
31 responses to “We Asked Publishers Which 360 Games They Will Make Playable On Xbox One”
tl;dr companies aren’t confirming anything because it’s only been a few weeks since E3 or “they didn’t get back to him”.
Yeah – there may have been some “yes” answers in there, but I gave up trying to wade through the “maybe”s. Would have been far more useful to lead with a list of the publishers who responded in the positive.
need to do one for ps4
This is for MS’s backwards compatibility mode, which the PS4 doesn’t have. If you mean for future game “ports/releases” that’s an entirely different thing.
Here is a complete list of PS4 Backwards Compatibility games….
Makes no sense NOT to allow games to be played.
1) Had this been hardware BC, they’d have no choice anyway, just like they don’t on GC/Wii/WiiU
2) In 90% of cases, someone has already paid for the game. They own it allowing them to play it isn’t going to hurt them
3) As an example, having access to all the old CoD games on Xbox One isn’t going to stop someone from buying BLOPS 3.
4) It’s actually an opportunity to make MORE money as people who sold off their 360s might go re-buy games, be it on disc or digitally.
You’d be crazy not to give this the ok as a publisher.
According to the video that Major Nelson posted, the backwards compatibility isn’t automatic because publishers may no longer have the rights to the game/characters/music. Publishers have to check their legal department and sign off before Microsoft will go ahead with the backwards compatibility.
Unless there are already plans to remaster the game in question for the current gen.
Or maybe Microsoft charges publishers/devs a conversion fee, or requires them to sign away certain rights or commit to exclusivity as part of the opt-in process, to get the game updated (do we know for sure what the arrangements are?).
Or licencing/engine fees have expired, and renewing them would be too expensive.
Or the publisher/dev has gone out of business and legal rights issues are too messy to sort out.
In short, I suppose there could be legitimate reasons not to participate.
Mass Effect 3 is a bit of a surprise. I was under the impression the system couldn’t handle multi-disc games (thus no digital release for ME3). Very happy to see Dead Space, a bunch of Resident Evils and some Metal Gear in the mix.
[Edit: Doh, I misread this. I thought these were confirmations. Not sure what the point of the article is if they’re not…]
Lol I think the point is to create an article detailing the people/companies that the author contacted. I think he’s got one or two confirmations in there? Stopped reading after the first 5-6
There were at least a few multi-disc games that were released digitally on 360, like GTA V and Halo 4.
And yes, the article is kind of pointless, since none of the publishers actually said anything useful (if they even responded at all).
It’s a nice list of games, but there was a resounding majority of “no comment” responses (or simply no comments).
i think this is such huge news. Every backwards compatible console never plays all the last gen games. I might have to be patient but i cant wait! so many 360 games I’ve missed that ill pick up on the x1
Every backwards compatible console? Well, except Nintendo ones: Wii, Wii U, GBC, GBA, DS, DS Lite, 3DS, New 3DS all play 100% of the last gen games. The only exception is the DSi.
Fair point.
They pretty much make all of their own games though…. so that kinda makes sense. Nintendo have always been an exception in the console wars. Ive always owned a nintendo console and one other.
2 things I was excited for when this was announced:
– Replaying MW2.
– Playing Red Dead for the first time.
Reassuring to see those two in top 4 most wanted. Can’t believe this is (probably) going to happen!
It’s a shame that the backwards compatibility likely won’t reach the games that need it the most… games that didn’t do to well are in need of preservation. I’d kill for SEGA’s games like Daytona, SEGA Rally Online Arcade, Afterburner Climax, Virtua Fighter 2 to be backward compatible (along with a treasure trove of XBLA games) too, but half of those SEGA titles are caught up in licensing nightmares, so the chances are slim. Soul Calibur HD I & II would be great 🙂
Still great though, I’ve been mucking around with it lately, and the BC is pretty damned solid so far. It’s been AWESOME going back to Jetpac Refuelled. Man, I love that game.
Get a dreamcast
I’ve got two 😛
Sick, they’re great consoles for all of those SEGA titles.
Yeah, totally. Got a Saturn too. The HD remakes and curiosities are great too, that’s why I’d love to see them preserved. SEGA in general has too much gold that has fallen by the wayside. The M2 3D Classics on the 3DS are amazing – it’d be a shame if all this stuff disappeared or was hard to get to, say 20 years into the future. These newer consoles won’t have the same legs as the old ones…
AFree the implementation is great. I’d love to see SplinterCell Blacklist on there but with two disks don’t like my chances. Also the first Dark Souls is a must!
Why are people so excited about backwards compatability??? Heres an idea: if you want to play an old game, put it in your old console and play it. Let’s face it, if you got rid of your old console, you probably got rid of the old games as well. In that case, download an emulator and you can play any game, from any console.
Backwards compatability is a novelty.
Yeah I agree for the most part but the only two that stick out for me are:
Skate 3 – Hell yeah
South Park Stick of Truth – Came out right before X1 launch so I turfed the 360 and didn’t finish it.. I even torrented the PC version but couldnt be bothered installing it (ultimate laze I know)
So point me in the direction of a 360 emu that performs decently? Heck, or even an original Xbox emu?
You can’t, because there is none. With the hardware history of the last generation I would not count on old consoles lasting, either.
If half of this list goes through, my pile of shame will bloody quadruple! I say that likes its a problem…. its really not 😛
Really hoping for Skryrim, as unfortunately I was without a console during that period and totally missed out!
It’s on PC as well. And trust me, it will run better on said PC than on a 360.
Although if it becomes backwards compatible and you can find a copy of the GOTY edition for the 360 that’s less than $50, I’d recommend buying it as 360 games don’t have an FPS cap on the Xbox One as far as I know.
I would prefer a Red Dead sequal
I can’t help but wonder what effect this COULD have on plans for future remasters. Hopefully fewer bad ones slip through, of course the opposite could happen and publishers may choose not to make their games backwards compatible just for the potential of doing a remaster down the road…
Re: Witcher – Shadowrun is also on the promo image and that will never appear. I wouldn’t count it as gospel yet.
Re: UMvC3 – Capcom have no say, its in Disney’s hands now, and they’ve pulled it from the marketplace. I can’t even pin my GonD copy as a result.
Tales of Vesperia would be sweet, as would NFS Most Wanted – but not the 2012 one, the 2005 original. That game is ballin’, yo.
Really Nordic games, a “definitive edition” and now you want backwards compatible why pick up the definitive edition when I can pick up the 360 version for next to nothing.
People seem to be really underestimating the importance that backwards compatibility on Xbox One will have. Especially Sony fan boys ‘Why buy a next gen console to play old games blah blah’ etc. For me gameplay is more important than graphics and there were many games on 360/ps3 that had awesome gameplay and good graphics.
The first game I bought for xbone was COD ghosts. Sure it was better graphics than 360 but did I enjoy the game any more than past releases on 360? ‘NO’ because the gameplay was exactly the same. I own at least 30 360 games that I haven’t even played yet and there are countless others that I would love to have the opportunity to play as well. Just because there are new consoles doesn’t mean all the past works of art suddenly become horrible.
Sony obviously believes there is a market for playing older gen games. They spent a lot of money building an infrastructure to stream older gen games. They believe the market for older games is so strong that they can charge a $20CAD per month subscription to play the story mode of around 100 games or $1CAD per day to rent from a choice of 300 story mode only games. Yet people are downplaying free true backwards compatibility with the ability to play all the original features of the game including online play with connections to all other 360 players including chat.
I think its awesome and don’t get the negativity the concept is receiving.