XBOX brings classic games to PC and handhelds

Source: Microsoft

Headline: XBOX brings classic games to PC and handhelds

Today, we’re introducing XBOX Backward Compatibility on PC, making it easier to play classic XBOX games from the past across PC and handhelds, including the ROG XBOX Ally and XBOX Ally X.

Your library is more than just a collection of games. It is your personal history of epic stories and treasured memories from the past. 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.

Rolling out today, XBOX Backward Compatibility on PC launches in early release, starting with four classic original XBOX games, now playable on PC and handhelds for the first time ever. 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.

Players can jump into the following games on PC and supported handheld devices beginning today in supported regions: 

Each of these games is now available for purchase on PC and also included with all XBOX Game Pass plans. If you already own a digital license for these games on console, that license now carries over to your PC or handheld. Through the power of XBOX Play Anywhere and XBOX Cloud Gaming, you can now play these classic games from the past on your XBOX console, cloud, PC and handheld.

In addition to making these games available on PC for the first time ever, we’ve added new features to enhance the experience on PC while preserving the original gameplay. Players can customize graphics settings, including up to 4x resolution upscaling, VSync support, Fullscreen and Windowed display modes, anisotropic filtering, enhanced anti-aliasing, and more. These games also include customizable language and audio settings.

We plan to add even more features to XBOX Backward Compatibility games in the future. I’m excited to share that later this year we will be bringing one of the top fan-requested features to select original XBOX games on both console and PC: Achievements. The first four games releasing in preview today will be updated to include Achievements in the coming months.

Getting started is simple. If your PC or handheld meets the minimum system requirements below, you’ll be able to access backward compatible titles through the XBOX on PC app. 

Minimum Requirements

• GPU: Nvidia GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel Arc A310

• CPU: 4 cores and 8 threads | Intel Core i3-10300 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100 or AMD Ryzen Z2 A

• Video Memory: 4 GB

• OS: Windows 11

• Drivers and Versions: Latest Version as of January 2026

Recommended Requirements

• GPU: Radeon RX 6800S or Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti or Intel Arc A770

• CPU: 6 cores and 12 threads | Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme

• RAM: 16 GB

• Video Memory: 8 GB

• Drivers and Versions: Latest Version as of January 2026

XBOX Backward Compatibility on PC is another step toward preserving the games from the past and making it easier for you to enjoy and play more of the games you already own across the devices you use every day.

Editor’s Note (July 22): We’ve updated the minimum/recommended specs.