As part of a keynote at this year’s GDC event, Xbox’s VP of Next Generation — Jason Ronald — has teased that Microsoft’s backwards compatibility program is being revived in some fashion this year.
Now, we’ll be upfront here and say that we don’t know for sure if this means more unreleased games will be added to the program, but in short, Ronald says that the company’s game preservation team “will release some iconic games from the past that are now going to be able to be played in entirely new ways”.
“As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, [the game preservation team] will release some iconic games from the past that are now going to be able to be played in entirely new ways,” says Jason Ronald 👀
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren.co.uk) 2026-03-11T17:45:53.150Z
Again, this is quite vague and could mean anything from brand new back compat additions to newly enhanced versions of games that are already on the program, but either way, backwards compatibility is being brought back in some fashion as part of the team’s 25th anniversary celebrations here in 2026.
Another thing that this could hint at — and this is a little bit of speculation from us right now — is that it may relate to Xbox backwards compatibility running on PC / ROG Xbox Ally. At the very same conference, the team has announced ‘Xbox Mode’ for Windows 11, and it sounds very much like Microsoft’s console and PC ecosystems are about to cross over in a big way in 2026 and beyond.
“Starting in April, Xbox mode will begin rolling out to Windows in select markets. It brings a familiar Xbox experience to players while keeping the flexibility and openness of Windows.
And, we’re committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come. As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we’ll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past.”
We’ll keep an eye out for any official updates on this, but yep – it’s looking like we’ll see new backwards compatibility announcements this year as part of Xbox 25.
Excited for what’s to come from Xbox back compat? Talk to us about all of this down below.
Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin’ in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he’s not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that’s far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.
