Backward compatibility on Xbox One is a one-step process.
Microsoft’s U.K. Xbox team has crafted a cheeky tutorial for Xbox One’s new backward compatibility feature, which lets people play Xbox 360 games they already own. The video is a spoof of Sony’s famous game sharing announcement from 2013’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), when the Japanese console manufacturer revealed it wouldn’t restrict game sharing or used game sales on PlayStation 4 — something Microsoft seemed to be planning for Xbox One.
Backward compatibility is a big deal for Xbox One. It’s a feature that helps differentiate Microsoft’s console from Sony’s PlayStation 4, which only offers access to last generation games through its paid streaming service, PlayStation Now. Despite outselling PlayStation 4 in October, Xbox One is still lacking behind in overall sales. Backward compatibility could help tempt gamers still using their Xbox 360’s to jump across to the current hardware generation while retaining easy access to the games they already love.
Watching the video, it’s clear that backward compatibility, which launched yesterday, is pretty simple to use. You’ll find compatible digital games — from the 104 initially available titles — that you already own in the “Games and Apps” tab on the home menu, and you can download them from there. With physical games, you just stick in the disc and then download the game, but you’ll need to put the disc back in the drive each time you play.
For reference, here’s how Sony’s 2013 video looked: