Xbox made backward compatibility a major part of its pitch for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The ability to transition to a new console while retaining the previous generation’s game library is inarguably popular. But alongside backward compatibility, Xbox also pitched game enhancement for older games running on new consoles. Little to none of that promise has borne fruit, however. Skeptical Xbox users should know that plans for enhanced Xbox One games on Xbox Series X/S remain in development.
The confirmation comes from Xbox Director of Project Management Jason Ronald. Ronald was asked directly on Twitter as to whether the Xbox team will be sharing more information regarding backward compatibility and enhancements “like 60fps” being added in 2021. Ronald remained tight-lipped but did say “yes” clearly. Suffice to say, more news regarding enhanced backward compatibility is coming this year.
What Ronald’s response leaves room for is, well, everything. It’s unclear if previously announced enhancements will still be coming, like 60fps for Fallout 4. It’s unclear if any of Xbox’s plans from the build-up to the Xbox Series X/S launch remain, or if everything’s changed since. The lack of communication over the past several months has been frustrating, as these enhancements were positioned as a major selling feature alongside Game Pass and have remained unaddressed.
The reasons why Xbox has been so quiet about the issue are understandable, however. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on Xbox’s plans for its next-generation console. Notwithstanding game delays, there are likely a large variety of plans that Xbox had in place for the Xbox Series X/S launch and its following launch window that have been delayed or put on pause. To that effect, 2021 may be the Xbox Series X/S launch year as much as 2020 has been.
Enhancements for backward compatible Xbox One games do make a lot of sense still, however. After all, game developers are already having to develop games for both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. Scalability is a major focus for new Xbox games. Developers will hopefully be able to apply that technology to Xbox One games, too, at least where it makes sense.
Needless to say, there are few Xbox gamers who play Xbox One games on their Xbox Series X/S console via backward compatibility that wouldn’t want to see enhancements made. Whether it’s for live service games like Grand Theft Auto Online and Fallout 76, or evergreen games like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Xbox and its partners will hopefully reveal more information soon.
The Xbox Series X/S is available now.
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