Although it wasn't the biggest talking point at yesterday's Xbox event, the team had some interesting things to say around game preservation, taking the opportunity to highlight how compatibility is at the "foundation" of the brand.
In a post on the official Xbox Wire blog last night, it was mentioned that Xbox players "should have confidence" in building digital libraries in Microsoft's ecosystem, and that the commitment to game preservation is "unwavering".
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer also elaborated on this during the show yesterday, promising to "respect the investments that people have made in Xbox going forward". Here's an excerpt of what he had to say:
"One of the cues, I think, us as being part of Microsoft take is looking at Windows, and how Windows, over decades, has maintained software compatibility with things that are built on it. Like, I can still go back and play some of the games that I love playing on Windows from decades ago and it will still run.
And we try to bring that same view to consoles. It's harder in console because the line between what the hardware is and what the game is in consoles is traditionally tighter, which you end up doing these generational compatibilities that we've built. But I will say compatibility, the ability to not only play the games, but my saves are still there with our cloud save systems, to try to keep the services up as long as we can so that people can play is a tenet of what we are as Xbox.
It's at our foundation. And when we look at future hardware generations and what we're going to support, making sure that we respect, which is the word I use "respect" the investments that people have made in Xbox going forward is fundamental. And the fact that you get entitlements when you buy a game from us on both Windows and Xbox also means you have the ability to play that game across a multitude of devices, which I think furthers the compatibility of the games that you own."
Some of the ways in which Xbox highlighted its support for this included backwards compatibility, cross-play, cross-save progression, Xbox Play Anywhere and "convenient cloud gaming", with Phil specifically highlighting the announcement of backwards compatibility as one of his favourite moments since taking over as head of Xbox.
He also went on to discuss this with The Verge in a separate interview yesterday, promising that Xbox is "very, very committed" to compatibility and library support. In other words, this appears to be a major focus point for the team!
"I don’t know that other console manufacturers go out and say that the games that you’re purchasing now are going to be playable in the future. And frankly with like FPS Boost and Auto HDR, maybe even playable better than they were in their original state.
That to me is a pretty fundamental brand promise for Xbox."