Microsoft brings original XBOX games to your PC and portable devices

To this day, there are still people who love to play original XBOX games. But if you don’t want to break your original XBOX hardware, you’ll now have a new way to access these classic titles. Microsoft is launching a new program that will allow you to play these games on PC and portable devices.

in a blog postMicrosoft announced the launch of XBOX backwards compatibility on PC. The program will allow you to play original XBOX games on PC and portable devices. According to the company, this program “marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve XBOX games of the past and bring them to PC.”

The program launches with four titles, including BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy. Microsoft plans to expand this line over time, but it is unknown how long it will be before more are added. You can buy these four games on PC and on all Game Pass plans. However, if you already have the digital license, that license will now transfer to your PC or handheld.

XBOX backward compatibility will also bring new features to improve the experience. Some of these features are 4x resolution upscaling, VSync support, improved anti-aliasing, full screen and windowed display modes, and anisotropic filtering. On top of that, there are also customizable audio and language settings. As a final surprise, Microsoft says it will bring achievements to these games later this year.

In order to run XBOX backwards compatibility for PC, you will need a system with the following specifications:

• GPU: Nvidia GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel UHD 770 or Intel Arc A310
• UPC: Intel Core i3-8100, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor with at least four cores
• RAM: 8GB
• SW: windows 11
• Drivers and versions: Latest version as of January 2026.

Here are the recommended specifications:

• GPU: Radeon RX 68005, Nvidia GTX 1070Ti or Intel Arc A7
• UPC: Intel Core i5-10400 with six cores and 12 threads, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme
• DirectX version: DirectX12 API, hardware feature level 11
• GPU VRAM: 8GB
• SW: windows 11
• Drivers and versions: Latest version as of January 2026.