Each Xbox backward-compatible game has taken 16-24 hours of testing, from a team of more than 500 people

How has the backward compatibility process been for the new generation of Xbox consoles? An executive from the brand has detailed some very interesting aspects.

The backward compatibility of Xbox Series X and Series S is one of the big points to consider when choosing a console and one of the keys to Microsoft’s strategy. There is a lot of interest in seeing how this optimization of thousands of games has been carried out so that they can be played on the new consoles

For this reason, the director of Xbox program management, Jason Ronald, has granted an interview, in which he explains how the ambitious project has been to move all those Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games to Series X and Series S.

Over the last year or so, we have been doing test passes, which can take 16 to 24 hours for a single game, explained Ronald. We had an army of testers, about 500 of them, who reviewed them all in order of priority.

If they found problems, our backward compatibility team would fix them without the developers doing anything. The responsibility lies with us to make sure these games continue to work.

In addition, it seems that Microsoft thinks that in the future more titles from previous Xbox consoles can be added as the original system or Xbox 360 to Game Pass: Yes, this is definitely something we are investigating. Some of the challenges are technical, but most of the time they are about licensing. In some cases, the developer or publisher no longer exists. Even tracking down who we need approval from can be very, very difficult.