Xbox One to be Backward Compatible with Xbox 360 Games, Microsoft Reveals at E3 2015

Microsoft revealed on Monday at E3 2015 a grand plan to allow Xbox 360 games to play on Xbox One via software emulation.

Digital Xbox 360 titles already purchased via XBLA, as well as retail discs of last-gen titles, will eventually be "natively" playable on Xbox One, the company claimed.

Microsoft executive Mike Ybarra explained that about 100 Xbox 360 titles will be playable on Xbox One by "this holiday," with hundreds more expected to follow. Among the first wave will be the Mass Effect trilogy, Super Meat Boy, Halo Reach, and Perfect Dark Zero.

At Microsoft's end, all this will be made possible via a painstaking software emulation initiative.

Ybarra also confirmed that some games could look better when displayed on Xbox One, and in an apparent dig at Sony's PlayStation Now subscription service, said that "we at Microsoft won't charge you to play the games you already own".

System-wide Xbox One features, such as DVR and streaming, will be available on all Xbox 360 titles.