This month, XBOX announced and launched the Backward Compatibility for PC program with four original Xbox games available to be downloaded. They include Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live & Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy. Fans quickly hoped that Xbox 360 games, too, would be a part of the line-up in the future. While Microsoft hasn’t officially announced Xbox 360 support yet, dataminers, on the other hand, have already found signs that the groundwork is in place.
Hours after the first batch of Xbox Backward Compatibility games went live, modders and dataminers quickly got to work. They discovered that the emulator powering the OG Xbox games already includes support for 360 releases. Better yet, they even managed to boot a handful of Xbox 360 games on PC, proving the feature works — although in an unfinished state.
Prolific reverse engineer @TheLunarixus revealed on X that the Xbox Backward Compatibility layer for PC is actually running on an Xbox 360 emulator. What’s more, the 360 emulator itself is running Xefu, Microsoft’s own original Xbox emulator used on the 360.
So yeah, you’re basically using an emulator on top of an emulator just to play Conker on PC. “This probably does confirm that yes Xbox 360 games will also be backwards compatible in the future,” they added.
The account behind the in-progress Xbox One emulator XWine1 also backed up the discovery. By combining the team’s own work with Microsoft’s implementation, they managed to run both original Xbox and Xbox 360 games. Albeit with ‘varying degrees of success.’ The team shared screenshots of Plants vs. Zombies, Amped, Japanese release of Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles running through the Xbox PC app.
The findings don’t stop there at the Xbox 360 functionality, however. X user @Kirby0Louise also uncovered references inside the VGPUDX12.dll file pointing to more Xbox games that could eventually arrive on PC. The list includes:
- Star Wars Battlefront II.
- Star Wars Republic Commando.
- Ninja Gaiden Black.
- Panzer Dragoon Orta.
- Jade Empire.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II.
- Manhunt.
- Splinter Cell.
- Splinter Cell 2.
- Destroy All Humans!
Still, Kirby0Louise also added a caution. It’s still unclear whether these are actual references to future PC releases or simply game-specific tweaks to make sure the emulator works smoothly. XBOX VP Jason Ronald also already hinted that the four OG Xbox games are only the beginning. If these discoveries are any indication, PC gamers could soon be playing the entire Gears saga and plenty of other Xbox 360 classics.
