Windows 10 coming to Xbox One in November – Update

Windows 10 is coming to Xbox One in November. The update will bring a new interface design and should be faster and easier to use. At the same time as Windows 10, Microsoft is implementing the promised backwards compatibility.

Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra, of the company’s Xbox division, announced this during the Gamescom press conference on Tuesday. He didn’t go into much detail about the update, but does state that it will introduce the previously promised backwards compatibility. Microsoft talked about this earlier during E3 2015.

The Xbox One will support “hundreds” of Xbox 360 games, with the exception of titles that use USB accessories like the Kinect or racing wheels. This is because Xbox 360 emulation is at the software level and not at the hardware level. Ybarra also stated that the games in Microsoft’s Games With Gold program will be backwards compatible from November.

Ybarra also unveiled the Xbox One Chatpad at the same time. The chat pad is an accessory that was also designed for the Xbox 360 in the past and has a full QWERTY keyboard for easy chatting in Xbox Live. The Chatpad will also be on the market in November, but it is still unclear whether that date also applies to the Benelux. Ybarra did not make any statements about the price, although the accessory costs 32 euros on Amazon.

Finally, Ybarra has also revealed the new DVR functionalities of the Xbox One. It allows users to record television programs, schedule recordings, and stream or download those recordings at home to other Windows 10 devices. The dvr service will be free and will be released in 2016.

Update, Wednesday, 08:46: the article stated that the Xbox One will be able to play all Xbox 360 games in November. That is not the case, and this has been corrected.