Xbox Ally handheld on top of Xbox 360 games

We recently covered Microsoft's Xbox back-compat for PC efforts, which bring four original Xbox games to Windows 11 PCs. That release contained code that hinted towards Xbox 360 titles also being part of the programme, and now The Verge is reporting that these games are indeed on the way.

Jay Peters and Tom Warren at The Verge state that a "leaked document" sent to developers recently contained details of the plans, with Xbox 360 titles becoming playable on Project Helix, Microsoft's next-gen console, "Xbox PCs" (presumably just PCs running the Xbox app) and handheld devices.

Extant Xbox 360 game developers (and presumably, rights holders) would be able to opt into making their titles backwards compatible, with the ability to set prices and control whether the game is made part of Xbox Game Pass. The Verge report goes on to say that the feature should roll out between 2027 and 2028 (ie in the run-up to the anticipated next-gen launch period) across "next-gen devices".

The document also reveals a date for the full launch of original Xbox titles on PC: October 2026. The back-compat programme as it stands now only includes four games, so this would be Microsoft's opportunity to push the boat out with more games from both first-party and third-party studios.

Microsoft's rumoured disc-to-digital programme is also detailed. Players that insert an Xbox One or Xbox Series game into one of these consoles will be granted a digital license to that game, tied to their account and accessible on all devices they're signed into. If the same disc is later used on a different person's account, the license is moved to that person. This allows for used game sales and disc sharing, which is nice to see. The reason this works at all is that Microsoft added individual licenses to game discs back in the Xbox One era, so the tech is finally proving useful.

The disc-to-digital programme was set to launch in beta last month with a full launch in August, but has since been delayed. It's not clear what the new timings will be, but the programme certainly doesn't seem far off.

What do you make of Microsoft's post-reset plans? Let me know in the comments below.

[source theverge.com]