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Video Games

Original Xbox games might come to PCs eventually, Xbox chief says

By Matthew Humphries PCmag
Published | Updated
Xbox One X

Kareem Choudhry, Xbox Vice President, introduces the Xbox One X gaming console during the Xbox E3 2017 media briefing in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian)

Microsoft seems to be looking to the future while focusing on the past following the Xbox One X reveal. As well as confirming original Xbox games will be playable on Xbox One in the near future, Microsoft got peripheral manufacturer Hyperkin to create a new version of the original Duke Xbox controller.

Now for some more good news: original Xbox games look set to be playable on Windows PCs (eventually).

PC Gamer sat down with Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, to discuss backwards compatibility on Xbox One, which is set to support Xbox 360 and now original Xbox games. The inevitable question of whether this backwards compatibility could be extended to PCs was raised. Surprisingly, Phil Spencer not only answered "yes," but says he believes it really will happen.

He's talking specifically about original Xbox games, not Xbox 360. That makes sense because the 2001 Xbox used an x86 processor. Although emulation on PC is still going to take a lot of work, the performance is there to handle it in modern PC hardware and the lack of a need to run on a different architecture really helps lower the complexity of the task.

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In total, 1,045 games were released for the Xbox between 2001 and 2009 when the hardware was finally discontinued. Imagine having those games available to play again on your PC (or Xbox One). Halo, Halo 2, Project Gotham Racing, Fable, Ninja Gaiden, Forza Motorport, and Splinter Cell are just a few of the classics worth mentioning.

There's no time frame specified for when this PC emulation could happen, but I imagine it's way down the list of priorities for Team Xbox. Right now they'll be focused on gearing up for the launch of the Xbox One X in November and ensuring Xbox backwards compatibility works across all the Xbox One hardware iterations.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.