Xbox is bringing games from its original console to PC

Game preservation is a hot topic at the minute amid Sony's decision to stop making PlayStation discs. Xbox has arguably done a better job that front over the last several years thanks in large part to its backward compatibility efforts on consoles. It's now expanding those to more platforms with the Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC program.

"Your library is more than just a collection of games. It is your personal history of epic stories and treasured memories from the past," Jason Ronald, Xbox's vice-president next generation, wrote in a blog post. "And as players, we don't want to leave our gaming legacy behind even as technology continues to evolve and advance. We expect our library of games to move forward with us and to be able to play them in entirely new ways."

The initiative is in "early release" starting today, as four games from the original Xbox are now available on PC and handheld devices for the first time. Those are Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. They're available on all Game Pass tiers. If you already own a digital version of any of those games on Xbox, you'll now have access to them on PC and handheld as well.

These PC versions include several enhancements, including customizable graphics settings, VSync support, enhanced anti-aliasing and language options. While the required specs are fairly modest (some of these games are a quarter-century old, after all), you'll need to be running Windows 11 to play these games on PC.

"This marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve Xbox games from the past and bring them to PC over time. And we are not just enabling you to play them on PC. We are also adding new features to make your gaming experience better than ever," Ronald wrote.

With that in mind, achievements for certain original Xbox games are in the works for both PC and console. In the coming months, Xbox will add achievements to the first four games in this initiative. It plans to bring more Xbox games to PC down the line.

It was recently reported that Xbox is working on a separate program that will let players digitize their disc-based games. As such, they wouldn't need to have a game disc in their Xbox One or Xbox Series X to actually play it. The report suggested that Xbox only just recently started testing this project — which ties a digital version of a game to a specific disc — so it may be a while before it's announced.