The Xbox One is not backwards compatible with its predecessor, the Xbox 360. Neither is the PlayStation 4, but Sony seems to be attempting a streaming solution, PlayStation Now, to bring the PS3’s bast library over to the PS4. And neither of them have anything on the Wii U, which runs every single Wii game, retail, digital, or Virtual Console, and supports every single Wii controller and accessory.
Microsoft last year famously stated that it had no plans to support backwards compatibility on the Xbox One; however, in a recent podcast, head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he wanted to bring backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One in some way or the other.
“Back compat is always a hot topic at the turn of a generation, and I get why, especially on [Xbox 360] so many people bought so much digital content and it means that a lot of us, we’re holding on to our 360s,” he said. “I get the question. I totally respect the question. There’s nothing I can say about it right now, but I’ll just say ‘I hear you.’ I definitely hear you and I’ll continue to try to work to build something that can help people out.”
We don’t know what form this solution will take- maybe Microsoft could sell an add on that will make backwards compatibility with the 360 possible, or maybe they could go the Sony route and offer it via cloud. Whatever it is, a lack of backwards compatibility has to have at least some part in the overall reticence that so many people are exhibiting upgrading from their Xbox 360 to Xbox One.