Xbox Backward Compatibility Grows to 25 Games With 21 New Additions on PC
Microsoft added 21 more original Xbox games to PC and ROG Xbox Ally handhelds for the console's 25th anniversary, bringing Backward Compatibility to 25 titles total.
Microsoft marked the original Xbox's 25th anniversary this week by more than tripling the console's library on PC. On November 12, Xbox added 21 more original Xbox games to Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC, bringing the total to 25 playable titles less than four months after the program's debut.
The expansion is the biggest since Backward Compatibility quietly launched in July with just four games. It also leans hard into one franchise: ten of the 21 new additions are Star Wars titles, from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel to shooters like Star Wars Battlefront II and Star Wars: Republic Commando.
What's New Today
The newly playable games on PC are:
- Armed and Dangerous
- Disney's Chicken Little
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
- Red Faction II
- Secret Weapons Over Normandy
- Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast
- Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter and Starfighter – Special Edition
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The Sith Lords
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Thrillville
- TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
They join the four games that launched the program in July: BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. Those four also picked up performance and stability fixes today, and every game in the lineup now supports mouse and keyboard controls rather than requiring a gamepad.
Achievements Land on Original Xbox Games for the First Time
None of these games shipped with Achievements when they released on the original Xbox console two decades ago, since Microsoft didn't introduce the Gamerscore system until the Xbox 360. Today's update changes that for four titles: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper and Conker: Live and Reloaded all gain Achievement support, with more titles planned.
The new Achievements aren't PC-exclusive, either. They also work on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles for anyone who already owns the games, as long as the console is running the latest system update. Players who have already made progress in those four games may find some Achievements unlock automatically based on save data Xbox can already see.
Where It Runs
Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC requires Windows 11, and each game must still be downloaded individually rather than streamed. Anyone who already owns a digital license for a supported game on Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles can install and play the PC version at no extra cost, and every eligible title remains included across all tiers of Xbox Game Pass.
The program also runs on the ROG Xbox Ally family of handhelds, which Microsoft and Asus built around the Xbox full-screen experience. That makes today's additions, including the two Star Wars: Battlefront games and both TimeSplitters entries, playable on a handheld for the first time since they left the original Xbox nearly two decades ago.
“This marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve Xbox games from the past and bring them to PC over time.”Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox
A Bigger Preservation Push
Xbox has framed PC compatibility as just the opening phase of a longer-term plan. Jason Ronald, Xbox's Vice President of Next Generation, said the goal extends well past this week's anniversary celebration.
Microsoft has not said which original Xbox games are coming next, nor whether Xbox 360 titles will eventually follow the same path to PC. For now, the 25-game milestone caps a week of 25th-anniversary programming that also included a free Firefight mode for Halo: Campaign Evolved and a batch of Xbox-themed cosmetics in Candy Crush Saga.
Why It Matters
Backward Compatibility on PC was always going to be judged by how far Microsoft pushed past its four launch games, and a 21-game jump answers that quickly. Pairing the expansion with Achievement support and ROG Xbox Ally availability also signals that Xbox wants these older games to feel like current releases rather than museum pieces players have to tolerate. With licenses carrying over for free, the practical cost of trying any of these games on PC for the first time is close to zero for anyone who already owns them.
Official links
Lena tests the hardware that games run on, from handheld thermals to controller latency. If a spec sheet is doing something suspicious, she has already opened the device.
