My research and AI’s responses seem inconsistent or unsatisfactory, so I prefer to ask these questions to Xbox players, thanks to anyone who takes the time to respond!
- Are the games actually emulated or are they just downloaded digitally using the disc as a key?
- Does the compatibility transform games significantly or is it a remaster-like optimization?
- Is it possible to use this feature offline therefore not caring about any Microsoft server support cessation?
- Are there significant differences in how backward-compatibility works on Xbox One versus Xbox Series X?
- What are some other aspects of this backwards compatibility feature that are worth mentioning?
The Xbox 360 uses a processor with a different instruction set which means the executable on the disc simply isn’t compatible with the Xbox One and Series X|S. For those, Microsoft have worked with game vendors to convert the executable (from binary, not source) to the other platform: “static recompilation”. The new executable must be downloaded to play the game.
For the Xbox One, the architecture is very similar to the Series X|S so it can mostly just run it like you can run Windows 7 games on Windows 11 with compatibility tweaks applied by the operating system.