Hot on the heels of the patent they filed last month suggesting at backward compatibility, Sony have filed another patent, published yesterday, that indicates they are exploring the feature for PS5. The patent, which is credited to Sony’s Mark Cerny, like the previous one, describes the “simulation of legacy bus operation for backward compatibility”.

Essentially, this is talking about a new system emulating the “bus” or channel for data transfer, of an older system. Basically, it lets them simulate how data is transferred from one part of an older system to another, which is important to have full emulation of an older system. The methodology Sony is patenting also allows for “enhanced simulation”, which theoretically could lead to older games running better on new hardware with no effort needed by the developers.

In conjunction with the other rumor, it makes it clear Sony is looking at backward compatibility for PS5—which is smart of them, since it will allow them to retain their dominance, potentially.

Microsoft continues its never ending quest to have Xbox and Xbox 360 games be playable on the Xbox One via its backward compatibility initiative. Of late, we have begun to see new batches of backward compatible games be released from a single series or publisher. Today’s update is similar—it’s four new games, all from the same publisher, three from the same franchise.

The publisher in question is Capcom, while the games are Lost Planet, Lost Planet 2, Lost Planet 3, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. While the latter two Lost Planet games are nothing special, the original was one of the most unique action games available at the time, and one of the original “killer apps” for the Xbox 360 in its early years, so it’s good to have it be available on the Xbox One as well.

Code Veronica represents one of the more divisive Resident Evil games; nonetheless, it has its fans, who will, I am sure, be more than happy to play through it again.

You can see Microsofr exec Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb’s tweets making the announcements about these new games below.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629230814887937?s=21

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629079505371136?s=21

The most obvious answer to the question is compatibility, and this is something we have seen used to potent effect previously. In the computing world, the reason Windows maintains its absolute hegemony is because of compatibility. Each new OS version runs the same programs the previous one(s) did, which means that there is no chance whatsoever for other OSs to make any inroads. iPhone users stay iPhone users and Android users stay Android users because switching means migrating your entire contacts list, text messages music, movies, media, as well as all the apps you have downloaded, including some you may have paid for and will have to pay for again. It’s just too much hassle. In the gaming industry, Nintendo kept its handheld monopoly because every contender had to compete against the entire might of Nintendo’s handheld library—N-Gage wasn’t competing just against the GBA, it was competing against the GBA, GBC, and GB. PSP wasn’t just competing against the DS, it was competing against the DS and GBA. PS Vita wasn’t just competing against the 3DS, it was competing against 3DS and DS.

More than ever, backward compatibility is important now, even in the home console segment, and that’s because of the rise of digital gaming. Sony, more than any other company, understands the value of digital games and services, given how well their own seem to be doing. This generation, people have invested hundreds of dollars into PS4 games on PSN, whether on day one or in sales. These games are intangible goods. People can’t sell them alongside the PS4 to fund their Xbox Scarlett purchase. They’re a sunk cost.

Alternately, however, allowing users to keep playing these games on the PS5 means they are less likely to switch over to Xbox next generation. If they stick with the PS5, then they get to maintain not just their PSN IDs, their Trophies, and their communities, but also their games library. While the PS5 launches and has the inevitable dry spell following its release, these people can still continue playing Death Stranding or Ghost of Tsushima while they wait for Horizon 2 to release. Backward compatibility, then, is an incentive to stick to PlayStation. You can even trade in your PS4 towards your PS5, and you still get to keep your games, because your PSN account also works on PS5, as do the PS4 games.

Of course, Microsoft will be doing backward compatibility too, so why am I mentioning this only as an advantage for Sony? Well, it’s an advantage for Microsoft too, but inasmuch as we are viewing backward compatibility as a form of ecosystem lock in—that is, of transitioning your current user base to your next system as a captive audience—Sony simply has a bigger audience to work with, and therefore, more to gain from backward compatibility if they do it. 94 million PS4 users can potentially be transitioned to PS5; on the other hand, 41 million Xbox One users can be transitioned to Xbox Scarlett.

The flip side is, if Sony doesn’t implement a form of backward compatibility on the PS5, then they stand to lose more too. Not only does this give Microsoft a competitive advantage, not only does this run counter to how any other modern day electronic device works—your iPhone Xs will still run the apps you bought on your iPhone 7—but it also conveys the impression that Sony is simply not interested in maintaining continuity for your purchases. Now, I’m not saying this will mean doom for the PS5—people will buy it for the next big PlayStation exclusive, because it’s those exclusives that sell PlayStation—but at the very least, it means people are less likely to invest in digital games on PS4. And if there is one thing we have seen this generation, it’s that Sony makes money hand over fist via digital game sales and the like. Just last year, they made more money than Nintendo or Xbox made, period, just from PSN revenues. This is not a line of income Sony wants to lose. This is a line of income important to the company. But Sony needs to inculcate the trust among its audience that their digital purchases will not be ephemeral, that they will continue to carry forward.

The onus, then, is on Sony. We know the company is contemplating implementing backwards compatibility in at least some degree on the PS5, but it is on them to actually do it. If they do, then the good news is, they stand to gain a lot—they stand to stabilize their user base from PS4 to PS5, rather than suffering a generation reset.  They get to continue to ensure users keep spending money on digital games and services, ensuring a line of revenue for Sony that is currently unmatched in the gamiunmg industry.

If not, on the other hand, then… well, we know that each generation is a chance at a reset. And Sony will be ceding a very large potential competitive advantage, or at least a leveler, if they choose to ignore the importance of digital continuity and backward compatibility going forward.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Earlier this morning, Sony announced the PlayStation Classic, a microconsole with 20 uploaded PS1 games, including Final Fantasy 7, in the vein of Nintendo’s highly successful NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini. It looks like the folks at Xbox UK decided this was reason enough to have a little jab at Sony, with their tongue firmly in cheek.

In a tweet made by the Xbox UK account, Xbox advertised the Xbox One’s ability to play over 500+ Xbox and Xbox 360 games with no additional payments necessary, as well as slipping in a reminder that some of them are Xbox One X enhanced too. It’s a reminder that even as Nintendo and Sony rely on novelties to sell their legacy content, Xbox is the only platform that has invested in trying to maintain full backward compatibility and digital continuity for its users with its backward compatibility initiative.

Of course, the novelty and nostalgia of something like an NES Classic Mini or a PlayStation Classic is also in the miniature hardware replication; but it’s good to see some friendly banter from Xbox UK anyway.

https://twitter.com/xboxuk/status/1042353577744916480?s=21

Microsoft’s backwards compatibility initiative appears to have been a major hit, and Xbox fans appear to have taken to it in droves. In their Road to E3 update blog post that they posted yesterday, Microsoft announced that one billion hours of games have been played via the Backward Compatibility initiative.

“We also reached a couple milestones recently with players having enjoyed over 4 billion hours on games released through our ID@Xbox program and nearly 1 billion hours on games in our Xbox One Backward Compatibility library,” Microsoft said.

It’s a significant milestone, because it indicates that a major portion of the Xbox One install base is now utilizing the functionality, and utilizing it at length. It means that Microsoft’s efforts at ecosystem and continuity building have paid off- which should put them in a uniquely strong position with regards to retaining their current install base going into the next generation.

With Microsoft continuing to expand the initiative- they have begun to add the most beloved original Xbox games to the lineup, and Xbox 360 games like Red Dead Redemption and Call of Duty: Black Op 2 headline the Xbox 360 games lineup- then the feature should continue to be enjoyed by players for a long time to come.

The one thing that Xbox and Microsoft deserve full credit for this generation is their stance towards backward compatibility- they’ve been pioneering the effort for continuity in digital ownership, and making games available across generations, and they’ve gone above and beyond, making not just Xbox 360 games playable on the Xbox One, but also original Xbox games.

Speaking of which, responding to a fan on Twitter, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed recently that original Xbox games will be made available on Xbox One in bigger blasts than Xbox 360 games, which are available as a constant drip feed; that said, he did reiterate yet again that fewer Xbox games than Xbox 360 games.

Another thing Spencer talked about was the fact that several Xbox games of late have gone for a more stylized look over photorealism- such as Super Lucky’s Tale, and the upcoming Sea of Thieves. Responding to a fan asking Spencer why Xbox doesn’t make “mature” games any longer, Spencer pointed out that games are made at Xbox for all gamers, and not for specific age groups, and that Microsoft has games of all kinds coming up, pointing to State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 as upcoming “mature” games.

He also talked about potential updates and improvements for the Xbox Upload Studio, noting that that’s something the team is working on, and that work on it fell behind as a result of priorities; that said, now that work is being done on it, hopefully more updates will be available soon.

All of which sounds great- between backward compatibility and the updated Upload Studio, Xbox fans have plenty to look forward to, even outside of upcoming major Xbox One games.

OG BC will come more in bigger blasts than 360 BC, just easier to manage the flow.  There will fewer in the end than 360 but I like the list for the next drop.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 6, 2018

Thanks. The teams are doing some really great work. I love the BC work, that team has really been incredible this gen.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 6, 2018

Team is doing some work here now. Really just a matter of prioritization among all the thing we need to improve. I know we've fallen behind in some areas, we are working on that.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 6, 2018

No specific change to the ratings of games we build.  If you are commenting on Lucky's and Sea of Thieves back 2 back that's just timing. We will build games for all gamers.  SOD2, Crackdown are more mature.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 6, 2018

countering your all caps with all lower case 🙂  i don't really dictate art style to teams but obviously we do have control over what we greenlight. i haven't overly focused on realistic vs. not realistic but good thing to think about.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 6, 2018

Xbox One’s backward compatibility has become a hotly contested and debated topic of late, but the feature is an undeniable success, and an indisputably consumer friendly move. So it was good to see Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, take the stage today and confirm that not only has the feature been a success for Microsoft, but that they will be expanding it to include the original Xbox as well.

Compatibility with the original Xbox has remained a widely requested feature for a very long time, now- in fact, Spencer himself has expressed a desire for it before. It’s good to see it will be happening at last. A lot of great gems are stuck on the original Xbox, such as Ninja Gaiden Black, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and The Elder Scrolls Morrowind. It’ll be good to be able to play them on a modern console again.

As of right now, we have no more details- other than the fact that only Crimson Skies is confirmed for this feature. We do know that games will run and play better on Xbox One, like with Xbox 360 games, so that’s good. As we learn more, we’ll let you know, so stay tuned.

The Xbox One backward compatibility report that was made public by Ars Technica was apparently ‘grossly inaccurate’, according to a statement made by Microsoft to VG247.

“We’ve carefully reviewed Ars Technica’s article, and have completed our own analysis of the actual data using identical parameters,” they saud. “Based on our findings, Ars Technica’s analysis and conclusions are grossly inaccurate and misleading due to an incomplete set of data and drawing conclusions about actual usage from data that approximates usage.

“As an example, we specifically know, based on our complete view of Xbox Live usage data, players are highly engaged with backwards compatible game titles. It’s why we continue to support this well-loved feature and the games that use it. We appreciate the work and effort by Ars Technica to share more information about the Xbox community and we are continually looking for ways to do so that also protect the interests of gamers and our partners.”

Ars itself, meanwhile, has updated its report, to recognize the inaccuracies in the numbers it had reported. “Microsoft has given us reason to believe the usage data provided by Xbox API consisted of incomplete estimates of total Xbox Live usage, and does not reflect a complete account of recent usage sessions by the sampled Gamertags. While the data provided seemed reliable in our spot tests, Microsoft tells us the API was “intended to display to each Xbox gamer an approximation of the time spent in a game so that they have the option to compare it with other gamers on the service,” Ars’ update to its report reads.

“That fault in the underlying data has led us to vastly underestimate total usage times for the apps and games in our usage sample. Graphs and charts that refer to average minutes played or percentage of users who played a game during that 4.5 month period seem to be an order of magnitude lower than the actual per-app usage rates and times. The “My Games and Apps” section of the Xbox One was used by 71 percent of Xbox One players during our sample, according to Microsoft, not the approximately 6.3 percent shown by our data.”

A 65% margin of error seems to be absurdly high, but… at the same time, at least they’ve gone ahead and rectified the mistake, I suppose. On my part, I have always been a believer in backward compatibility on all systems, and I have held fast in my belief that the feature is well loved. I am happy to see the numbers also support me on this front.

There has been a lot of discussion on backward compatibility as of late- this started with a rather unusual remark about the feature made by Sony’s Jim Ryan. He said to Time, “When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much. That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”

This was followed by Xbox’s Mike Ybarra doubling down on his company’s stance regarding the feature. Meanwhile, Ars Technica went ahead and published a report on how the feature is used very little, if at all, by Xbox owners. All of this has been used to further a narrative that backward compatibility is a feature people ask for, but never use, so why bother implementing it to begin with?

To set the record straight, we have Xbox’s Mike Nichols sharing hard numbers on Twitter– he claims that 50% of all Xbox One owners have used backward compatibility at some point or the other, and over 508 million hours have been clocked in cumulatively. Those are actually really good numbers, on the whole, and they all serve to reinforce the central point- backward compatibility is a fantastic feature, and anyone who attempts to deny that is doubling down on an untenable position, out of misguided corporate loyalty. If you work for Sony and are paid for that loyalty, at least you have an excuse- but it’s the shocking to see so many players downplaying this feature that truly stands out to me.

The fact of the matter is, backward compatibility is a great, consumer friendly, digital friendly, feature. It helps ensure continuity of purchases, it is convenient, it enhances old games, it ensures costumers don’t have to rebuy old games if they want to play them on newer hardware, and it is good for maintaining older software that otherwise might be lost to time. This is non negotiable, and indisputable. For the Sony fans who feel the need to downplay it, because Xbox is doing it, I ask you to, for a minute, ignore the fact that Xbox is doing it, and come up with actual reasons for why the feature is bad. It’s not. At its worst, it hurts no one. At its best, it protects your purchases, and gives you a wider pool to draw from.

Sony is going to continue speaking against backward compatibility, because it is a feature that the competition has as an advantage over them, and also because Sony has a vested agenda in pushing PS Now, PS2 Classics, and HD remasters. However, all logic dictates Sony is wrong. Numbers, such as the performance of Red Dead Redemption and Black Ops 2 once they went live on the backward compatibility service, demonstrate this. And now, Xbox’s own shared numbers demonstrate that not just is backward compatibility a feature that people ask for, but it is also one that they use in an appreciable fashion.

Furthermore, backwards compatbility if done right can also enhance games with better image quality and frame rates (Xbox One’s backwards compatability and PS4’s PS2 classics is proof of this). I think Sony’s comments and their commitment towards backwards compatibility is undermining the fantastic feeling of playing age old classics all over again.

In this regard, Sony is wrong, and I really hope they change their stance for the inevitable PlayStation 5, if not for the PlayStation 4.

The newest batch of Xbox 360 backward compatible games on the Xbox One has been revealed- it’s a relatively lower profile bunch of games this time around, with the headlining game being Daytona USA. Of course, ardent fans of the classic arcade racer will tell you that Daytona USA is better than just about any other major AAA title Microsoft could have put up on the store- honestly, they’d probably be right, too.

The other two games that are included as part of this update are Stacking and Tower Bloxx Deluxe. As always, you can either buy these games from the Xbox One Store, or you can download them from your library, if you own these games already.

With so many of Xbox 360’s games now being playable on the Xbox One, I suppose the question is- what major game that isn’t playable on the system yet would you like to see enabled with backward compatibility? Let us know in the comments section below.