One of the Xbox One[1]'s biggest selling points is backwards compatibility. It's the ability to play specified Xbox 360 and original Xbox games on the Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X. While Sony has derided any possibility of PS4 backwards compatibility[2], citing that it rather focus on new games, Microsoft has continued to invest in making older games playable on newer hardware. And it seems to have paid off if a recent statement from the company is to be believed.
"We’re thrilled with the continued excitement for Xbox One Backward Compatibility—the community has played more than 840 million hours of Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. Compatibility is important to Xbox, to developers and their games, and our community," wrote Bill Stillwell, Lead Program Manager, Xbox Platform on the official Xbox website[3]. He went on to wax eloquent on Microsoft's adherence to video game preservation.
"Preserving the art form of video games is part of our DNA, which is why Xbox One is the only console designed to play the best games of the past, present and future. We’re excited to continue to deliver on our vision of compatibility and grow our current Backward Compatible library, which includes more than 460 Xbox 360 games, 11 Xbox One X Enhanced Xbox 360 titles, and 13 Original Xbox games."
Stillwell's comments essentially mean that, according to the eagle-eyed readers on popular gaming forum ResetEra[4], each Xbox One user has played at least 24 hours of backwards compatible content. This is of course, assuming the last reported Xbox One sales figure of around 35 million.
These figures should come as no surprise. Even in nascent markets like India it appears...