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.