After an extended hiatus, Xbox has added over 70 new backward compatible games, including classics like the Max Payne trilogy, Skate 2, and Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2. Some of these have been highly requested since Xbox announced backward compatibility for Xbox One back in 2015, but the latest additions also mark the end of an era since they will be the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One's final wave of backward compatible titles.

Over the last several years, players have logged billions of hours in backward compatible Xbox games. It's been an incredibly successful addition to Xbox's ecosystem, allowing players to seamlessly play classics like Red Dead Redemption, old-school Xbox exclusives, and almost the entire mainline Call of Duty franchise. As time has gone on, Microsoft has expanded the service with original Xbox titles like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and other. This eventually paved the way for almost all Xbox One titles to be playable on Xbox Series X/S, giving the new-gen consoles a massive games library.

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Backward compatibility's consumer-friendly appeal has been successful for Xbox, and its final offerings have been revealed. Xbox announced during its 20th-anniversary steam that it would be adding support for 76 more games, including the likes of Max Payne 350 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. 11 of these titles will benefit from the same FPS boost some older Xbox games have been enhanced with, allowing for smoother frame rates. Due to licensing issues and technical constraints, this batch of backward compatible Xbox games will be the last ones added to the service. The full list of new backward-compatible titles can be found below.

New Xbox Backward Compatible Games List

  • 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
  • Aces of the Galaxy
  • Advent Rising
  • Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
  • Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
  • Bankshot Billiards 2
  • Beautiful Katamari
  • Binary Domain
  • Black College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed
  • Cloning Clyde
  • Conan
  • Darwinia+
  • Dead or Alive Ultimate
  • Dead or Alive 3
  • Dead or Alive 4
  • Death by Cube
  • Disney Universe
  • Disney’s Chicken Little
  • Elements of Destruction
  • F.E.A.R.
  • F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
  • F.E.A.R. 3
  • F.E.A.R. Files
  • The First Templar
  • Gladius
  • Gunvalkyrie
  • Islands of Wakfu
  • Lego The Lord of the Rings
  • Manhunt
  • Max Payne
  • Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
  • Max Payne 3
  • Mini Ninjas
  • Mortal Kombat
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
  • MX vs. ATV Alive
  • MX vs. ATV Untamed
  • NIER
  • Novadrome
  • Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
  • Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
  • Otogi: Myth of Demons
  • Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
  • The Outfit
  • Outpost Kaloki X
  • Quake Arena Arcade
  • R.A.W. - Realms of Ancient War
  • Red Dead Revolver
  • Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
  • Ridge Racer 6
  • Rio
  • Risen
  • Risen 2: Dark Waters
  • Rock of Ages
  • Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
  • Scramble
  • Screwjumper!
  • Secret Weapons Over Normandy
  • Skate 2
  • SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam!
  • SpongeBob’s Truth or Square
  • Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition
  • Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  • Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
  • Switchball
  • Thrillville
  • Thrillville: Off the Rails
  • Time Pilot
  • TimeSplitters 2
  • TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
  • Toy Story Mania!
  • Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment
  • Viva Piñata: Party Animals
  • Warlords

Xbox has managed to gather hundreds of iconic games from the previous Xbox generations and seemingly future-proofed them. That said, licensing issues and the aforementioned technical constraints means the entire Xbox library will never be fully preserved on the Xbox Store. Due to older games using songs, vehicles, brands, and other things, it innately makes it difficult for publishers to re-release their old titles as they once were.

Even though there are some enhancements with Xbox's backward compatibility service, it still fundamentally provides the same games from their initial releases, making it quite admirable from a preservationist point of view. There are legal headaches associated with games that were released by publishers that no longer exist, meaning the rights for the titles are tied up elsewhere. Despite those issues, Xbox has compiled a worthy list of classic games for players to revisit or play for the first time for years to come.

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Source: Xbox