As it continues to try smoothing the waters churned up by the recent layoff of thousands of people, Xbox has followed up last week’s big Fallout infodump with the launch of a new “Backward Compatibility on PC” program that will bring old-time Xbox games, previously exclusive to the platform, to PC and compatible handhelds for the first time.
The program is launching with four “classic original XBOX games,” as Microsoft described them. I’m not sure I’d use that characterization myself, but to be fair I haven’t played any of these games (although I did enjoy the original Crimson Skies), and PC Gaming Show maestro Jake Tucker informs me that “Conker was the shit.”
I am not convinced, but anyway, here’s the starting lineup:
All four games are now available for purchase on PC and are also offered through all Game Pass plans, and if you already own a license for them on console that will carry over to your PC as well. As well as being playable on new hardware, the PC-compatible versions will offer new features including customizable graphics options, and language and audio settings.
“This marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve Xbox games from the past and bring them to PC over time,” Xbox vice president of next generation Jason Ronald said.
One point that isn’t touched on, although it’s largely academic, is whether these are actual PC versions of old Xbox games or official emulation. Emulation is the safer assumption, but I’ve reached out to Xbox to ask.
In either case, you’re going to need something a little more power than an OG Xbox console to play them:
Minimum system requirements:
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel UHD 770 or Intel Arc A310
- CPU: Min 4 Cores Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor
- RAM: 8GB
- OS: Windows 11
- Drivers and Versions: Latest Version as of January 2026
Recommended specifications:
- GPU: Radeon RX 68005 or Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti or Intel Arc A770
- CPU: 6 cores and 12 threads Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme
- DirectX Version: DirectX12 API, Hardware Feature Level 11
- GPU VRAM: 8GB
- OS: Windows 11
- Drivers and Versions: Latest Version as of January 2026
This initial lineup of games is perhaps not socks-knocking, but the real tale will be told by what comes next. Xbox’s assertion that this “is another step toward preserving the games from the past” rings hollow for me—dependence on digital platforms is neither ownership nor preservation, and the original Xbox already has a community-made emulator that supports around 80% of the console’s library.
Bringing Xbox games to modern PCs isn’t likely to be a huge money-maker, but it does comport with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s ‘more exclusives’ strategy—and, ironically, also reflects the aspirations of her predecessor, Phil Spencer, who prior to his departure expressed concerns about the loss of videogame history and said he supported efforts to bring back old games for new audiences.
