Xbox 360 Emulator Developer Responds to Xbox Classics Rumor

After a well-known YouTuber recently leaked potential plans for a new Xbox service, several inside sources were quick to deny the claims. The supposed service is called "Xbox Classics," and if the source is actually accurate, it would both increase the number of games that are backward compatible on newer Xbox systems and make graphical improvements, among other desirable features.

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By Dominik Bošnjak

Recently, well-known YouTuber eXtas1s leaked rumors about an "Xbox Classics" service that Microsoft is supposedly planning to offer. According to Insider Gaming, there have now been a few refutations of this backward compatibility rumor. The most noteworthy denial of this claim came from Xenia, the Xbox 360 emulation team that eXtas1s claimed was working on this project. A team member known on Discord as ZoloKluk stated that “Microsoft has their own Xbox 360 emulator, they’d never even consult Xenia.” Further denials of the rumor came from Jez Cordon on Twitter, a journalist with strong ties to Microsoft.

Xbox Classics Rumors Refuted by Emulator Developers and Journalist

According to Xenia team member ZoloKluk, this rumor is unlikely to be true because Microsoft has its own team for emulation. Although that doesn't mean it couldn't happen, this team member was also quick to point out that it wouldn't be possible to confirm these claims if true, because the entire team would be under an NDA. Being that Xbox backward compatibility has a history of problems, this may come as unfortunate news to some fans, but it also means there's still a chance this rumor is accurate.

Even according to the original rumors, the "Xbox Classics" system was never going to offer full backward compatibility, which means that fans would still need to rely on both old hardware and software to play all their favorite games from throughout Xbox history. That said, Microsoft adds backward-compatible titles with each console release, so while it's possible that the company is working on adding more titles to that catalog, there is so far no indication that the rumors about this particular service are true.