Xbox Creates New Game Preservation Team As It Prepares For Next-Gen

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Avinash Jaisrani

At HI Digital I test and write about different hardware configurations to show other PC users what they can expect from their build. My end goal is to educate the masses to make the right decision when they are looking for new PC parts to buy

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Game preservation has been a persistent debate in the industry today. Fans of physical media, in particular, are passionate about the subject, arguing that digital media goes against this notion.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Xbox, the platform most invested in a digital ecosystem, appears to be making efforts for game preservation. Reports state that Microsoft has established a separate team to meet this goal.

Why it matters: These efforts are encouraging for everyone invested in the ecosystem, underscoring a focus on keeping existing libraries intact across multiple generations.

As reported by Windows Central, Sarah Bond addressed the Xbox teams in an internal email recently.

We have formed a new team dedicated to game preservation.

-Sarah Bond

She stated that this team will primarily work on moving the existing Xbox Series S|X games forward. In practical terms, this means that the current-generation games are guaranteed to work on the next hardware.

Microsoft is expected to launch its next console as early as 2026, so it seems backward compatibility for that hardware is already set in stone. According to the source, Sarah Bond and her team will share more information on the matter in June.

The goal could also transition to Xbox restarting its backward compatibility program.

Having acquired Activision Blizzard, the gaming giant has more room to move its older games to new hardware.

Xbox gamers can rest assured that their current libraries will not be rendered useless once the new generation rolls around.

This already happened once, with both Microsoft and Sony dropping backward compatibility in 2013. Fortunately, the industry is more aware of the situation today, focusing on ensuring gamers retain access to their purchases on new hardware.

Avinash Jaisrani

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