Developers Were Nervous About Xbox Backwards Compatibility, Admits Microsoft Exec

Microsoft's Bill Stillwell, who previously worked on the backwards compatibility team at Xbox, talked recently with YouTube channel Dealer Gaming about the challenges faced in building the program for Xbox One, and how some developers weren't necessarily keen on the idea:

"When we first started the program, developers were really nervous, like 'do not change my game'. We even got to a point in emulation where games that had bugs - we needed to make sure that the bug reproduced in the emulator the same way that it did in the game. And not only could we not fix the bugs, the problem we would run into was, one particular game - the bug was like, 1 out of every 100 times on the Xbox 360 version. And then, when we emulated it, we hit the bug every single time."

The Microsoft executive went on to note that when Xbox 360 games were enhanced to display at 4K via backwards compatibility, such as Halo 3 and Red Dead Redemption, it proved a turning point for the program in terms of gathering support from the industry at large:

"And I think at that point, most of the industry made a switch and went - 'oh, why wouldn't I want my game to take advantage of HDR? Why wouldn't I want my game to look better?'... So, over time I think what you have to realise is the industry is reluctant to change, because they've got a model that works. And it takes, sort of, these seismic shifts in consumer behaviour before people say, 'oh, I guess it's OK for my back compat library to be available on the new console.'"

What are your thoughts on backwards compatibility on Xbox One? Tell us what you think the program below.

[source youtu.be, via tweaktown.com]