Microsoft is hiring to double down on one of Xbox’s best features; I can’t wait

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To this very moment, I continue to revisit and enjoy a few of my most cherished Xbox 360 titles. They truly shine, particularly when they’re taken to greater heights using features like FPS Boost and advanced upscaling technologies.

Back in the summer of 2015, the backward compatibility program for the original Xbox was officially unveiled. For nearly six years, from that point until it ended in 2021, this program brought back a vast number of games for free, making them accessible once more to the public.

Without a doubt, Xbox’s triumph was enormous, benefiting consumers greatly. It appears now that the program could be making a return, or at least, moving forward with more developments.

At first glance, a job posting for the role of Principal Software Engineer was discovered on Microsoft‘s official career site, as reported by PureXbox.

Lend your system and security engineering expertise to shape the future of Xbox Game Compatibility! By joining our Xbox Platform team, you’ll contribute to the safeguarding of Game Preservation. Your role will involve determining and defining the essential requirements and security parameters for protecting game content, creating robust emulation systems that scale effectively, and ensuring a secure and enjoyable gaming experience across all platforms. Your contributions are instrumental in realizing Xbox’s vision of enabling players to enjoy their games on any device.

The position seems to be focusing on carrying forward the Game Preservation initiative, which Microsoft unveiled around April last year. Since then, there hasn’t been much detail about how it might influence the future of Xbox gaming. Nonetheless, this development sparks a glimmer of anticipation for the potential reintroduction of backward-compatible games in the future.

You might remember that any game could potentially be part of the backward compatibility program, however, only with a publisher’s approval would the game be made functional in this context. Absent such approval, the game was never taken into consideration.

The initiative sparked a wave of gamers asking for remakes of their favorite games, including the highly acclaimed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. I vividly recall this particular Call of Duty game being exceptional, and even Major Nelson made private remarks about the hype surrounding Black Ops 2 on Reddit, expressing disbelief at its intensity.

Many popular games, which would be enhanced with backward compatibility features, are currently lacking this functionality.

A game that holds great significance for me, though probably unknown to many, is Alien vs. Predator: Extinction. It’s more than just a favorite; it’s a prized memory from my past. I invested countless hours perfecting the strategy known as “turtling” in a room, with the aim of overwhelming the opposing team.

The drive towards backward compatibility is picking up speed, and it’s easy to understand why. Following the completion of the Activision Blizzard acquisition, which has been given the go-ahead legally, Xbox now finds itself with a huge pile of games ready to be played on contemporary consoles. Now that all legal obstacles have been overcome, Xbox merely needs to approve its own titles for release.

Instead of focusing solely on reminiscing, this is also an opportunity to unlock a wealth of historical gaming past. The scope for growth is immense, and the moment seems perfect.

It’s simply amazing to imagine playing all those old Tony Hawk or X-Men games (though I’d pass on X-Men, Sony). If time travel was possible, I’d love to play True Crime in 2025. And let’s face it, there must be someone out there who’s been longing for the chance to revisit Stuart Little: The Journey Home, perhaps with a platter of cheese and crackers to heighten the experience.

Oh, and while you’re at it, why not add every single game to Game Pass too?

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2025-05-09 00:29