Microsoft Senior Director Albert Penello told Gamespot this week that the Xbox One could potentially, one day, offer backward compatibility using its Azure cloud service. This doesn't mean that Microsoft is actively pursuing backward compatibility in the Xbox One, a Microsoft spokesperson tells Joystiq:

"The power of the cloud brings many possibilities on Xbox One. Albert was speaking theoretically about backwards compatibility as an example of the features the cloud could enable in the future."

In the interview, Penello responded to a question about potential backward compatibility on Xbox One by saying the console was "absolutely" open to that type of connected feature. "There are so many things that the servers can do," he said. "Using our Azure cloud servers, sometimes it's things like voice processing. It could be more complicated things like rendering full games like a Gaikai and delivering it to the box. We just have to figure out how, over time, how much does that cost to deliver, how good is the experience."

Backward compatibility might be a feature on Xbox One in the future, but for now that's a hypothetical scenario. The console itself might also one day be red, cost $50 or cook breakfast for you – theoretically, of course.

Posted: Sep 06, 2013 5:27 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/09/05/xbox-one-backward-compatibility-a-theoretical-proposal/