Xbox Series X to support older Xbox games natively, high frame-rate versions also promised

The Xbox Series X will be able to run all older Xbox games with ease at higher frame rates. Microsoft says some old titles will be enhanced for the Series X too.

Highlights

• The Xbox Series X will have backward compatibility for older Xbox titles.
• Microsoft bakes in several enhancements for older games to take full advantage.
• The Series X will compete with the Sony PS5, scheduled to launch later this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have depressed a majority of the population but for gamers, there's a lot of hope on the horizon. The Xbox Series X is going to be a big thing for console gamers this year and Microsoft has already been revealing several aspects of the next-gen Xbox part-by-part. We know that the Series X will be almost as good as a high-end gaming laptop but will you be able to play your existing games on it? Microsoft gives a big nod.

In a recent blogpost by Jason Ronald, Director of Program Management for the Series X, it has been made clear that the next-generation Xbox will come with support for the older games. The Series X will have backward compatibility for all the titles launched all the way back since the original Xbox days. The team is currently testing older titles on the Series X.

Not only will the Series X support older titles, Microsoft says that the console will also be able to enhance the quality of the gameplay for those older titles. That means you can expect your old Xbox titles to play with modern perks such as 4K resolution, more frame rates, HDR support and anisotropic filtering. Select Xbox titles that originally played at 30fps can be upgraded to 60fps with ease.

"Backwards compatible games run natively on the Xbox Series X hardware, running with the full power of the CPU, GPU and the SSD. No boost mode, no downclocking, the full power of the Xbox Series X for each and every backward compatible game. This means that all titles run at the peak performance that they were originally designed for, many times even higher performance than the games saw on their original launch platform, resulting in higher and more steady framerates and rendering at their maximum resolution and visual quality," says the post.

These older games will also be able to take advantage of the new features the Series X provides for the modern age titles. Quick Resume will work on all the older titles and with the advanced NVMe SSD storage, these should load faster too. For those who don't know about Quick Resume, it will allow players to resume their game from where they left, all without the need for a separate AutoSave feature.

Will it be effortless to play on the older generations? "With more than 100,000 hours of play testing already completed, thousands of games are already playable on Xbox Series X today, from the biggest blockbusters to cult classics and fan favourites. Many of us in Team Xbox play on the Xbox Series X daily as our primary console and switching between generations is seamless. By the time we launch this holiday, the team will have spent well over 200,000 hours ensuring your game library is ready for you to jump in immediately," says the post.

The Xbox Series X is going to launch later this year and will compete with the Sony Playstation 5, which also is expected to release during the holiday season the US.

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