It looks like Microsoft has something planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Xbox in 2026. As part of a showcase of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally gaming handheld, BBC News asked Xbox’s vice president of next generation Jason Ronald whether these plans involve bringing back classic Xbox games to the modern gaming ecosystem. Ronald responded by saying that, while he can’t announce or reveal anything, there are some plans to celebrate the anniversary of Xbox.
“I can’t announce anything today, but what I will say is 2026 is the 25th anniversary of Xbox,” said Ronald when asked if the company is planning to bring games that were originally released for the first Xbox to Game Pass. “And we want to celebrate the great legacy and history of Xbox, as well as defining the future of where the Xbox ecosystem is going. So, I can’t confirm or deny what you are asking, but stay tuned we have a lot of exciting things to share next year.”
While Ronald’s relatively evasive answer doesn’t really serve as any sort of confirmation one way or another, it does hint to the idea that Xbox might be working on introducing backwards compatibility for games from the original console on to its modern console and PC platforms.
It is worth noting that, while the original Xbox got many ports of games that were also released on PC, PS2 and GameCube, the console also has plenty of exclusive titles that were never released elsewhere. Plenty of these titles are incredibly niche, and span a wide range of genres. Some titles included FromSoftware’s Otogi: Myth of Demons, Midtown Madness 3, Voodoo Vince, Jet Set Radio: Future, and Shin Megami Tensei Nine.
There were also multi-platform games that, while available on PS2 and GameCube, didn’t really get ported to more modern platforms on any of the three big console makers’ machines. These included Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and The Warriors.
Some of these titles have since been playable on modern Xbox consoles thanks to Microsoft’s efforts at introducing backwards compatibility, many are essentially stranded on a console that stopped being made a couple of decades ago. Ronald’s statement also indicates that the company might expand its backwards compatibility to also allow running these games on PCs running on Windows.
These hints that Xbox games might also end up being playable on PC also play into Microsoft’s larger goals for the Xbox brand, which revolve around the idea of Xbox Play Anywhere. Through this, Microsoft wants to ensure that all of its platforms become viable places for gaming, regardless of the hardware. The company has currently been accomplishing this through its own cloud gaming service, as well as allowing those who buy games through the Microsoft Store to get copies of the title across Windows and Xbox platforms.
Recent reports have also indicated that Microsoft might be looking to expand on its manufacturing capabilities when it comes to Xbox-branded hardware, with expansion plans for Foxconn subsidiary Fushan Technology involving the production of an additional 4.8 million units of Xbox gaming devices.
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