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145 million hours of Xbox 360 backwards compatible games played

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When Microsoft announced that Xbox 360 backwards compatibility was coming to the Xbox One, I was shocked. My stupefaction came largely because it was a software (and black magic) driven solution.

At the time though, I was largely quite dismissive of it, saying that it would be a nice marketing ploy, but would end up being used a few times, and then left alone. I’ll take that serving of crow or humble pie or whatever it is you’d like – because I’ve found myself using it far more than I thought I would. I’ve spent too much time playing the pretty damned good Xbox 360 version of Plants Vs Zombies (which still has way, way higher resolution art than the forgotten PC version) and a lot of an old favourite of mine, Geometry Wars 3.

It’s actually been quite nice having many of my old digital Xbox 360 favourites just magically pop up as downloadable on the Xbox One – and the pair of “free” games that come as part of the Games with Gold collection every month doesn’t hurt either.

It seems that quite a few people are using the backwards compatibility feature. In an interview, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg revealed that many, many collective hours have been spent playing last gen’s games on old gen hardware. According to Greenberg, there’s been a seen a “huge amount of engagement” since backwards compatibility launched last year, with more than 145 million hours played.

That’s significantly less than the time people spend playing brand new games, true. And on its own is nearly meaningless metric, but it does mean that people are using the feature. Of course, red Dead Redemption may have a lot to do with that.

Last Updated: August 18, 2016

12 Comments

  1. HairyEwok

    August 18, 2016 at 09:38

    You see Sony, backwards compatibility is cool, just look at all those hours spent playing backward compatible games on xbone. Just Imagine if you got paid $1 for every hour a 360 game was played on the xbone.

    Reply

  2. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    August 18, 2016 at 09:54

    Bought Warriors last month, patiently waiting for this as well.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      August 18, 2016 at 11:10

      Has there been any mention of future backwards compatibility for the PS4? To my knowledge there isn’t anything in the pipeline and the current trend of milking remasters probably won’t change their minds. M$ have definitely upped their customer service the last couple of years now.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        August 18, 2016 at 11:14

        People have asked for it but I doubt it. Sony pretty much said no

        Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 18, 2016 at 10:12

    But how will Pieter even be able to play 145k hours, never mind 145mil?

    Reply

  4. Dungeon of JJ

    August 18, 2016 at 10:27

    Well done MS.
    People wanted it, you supplied it. Listening to your customers pays off.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      August 18, 2016 at 10:32

      ^^

      Reply

    • miaau

      August 18, 2016 at 11:03

      Dungeon? Playing Dungeon Keeper 2 again?

      Reply

      • Dungeon of JJ

        August 18, 2016 at 11:47

        😀
        Dungeon of the Endless.
        Surprisingly good game. Not at all what I was expecting but pleasantly surprised.

        Reply

  5. Fox1 - Retro

    August 18, 2016 at 10:36

    What’s great is MS don’t go around ditching online support for older titles.

    Reply

    • Dungeon of JJ

      August 18, 2016 at 10:39

      Like EA. Now I have games in my Origin library that are greyed out. Never to be played again because EA stopped support and the titles are now dead.

      Reply

  6. Craig Lotter

    August 18, 2016 at 11:28

    Definitely one of the best things about going the Xbox One route as opposed to the PS4 route. I’m pretty pleased that I have the opportunity to pick up and try a lot of games that I missed out on previous generation, without having to maintain two consoles!

    Reply

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