This week, a bit of rabble-rousing hit the Internet over some data, provided by Ars Technica , about use of the Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility feature of the Xbox One. Today, Xbox Chief Marketing Officer Mike Nichols offered a response to this data, suggesting further nuance to the system’s usage.
The data from Ars Technica, based on roughly one million active Xbox One accounts showed that of the 1.65 billion minutes of Xbox One time in this sample, 1.5 percent was dedicated to Xbox 360 backwards compatibility. Nichols’ response, delivered via Twitter , suggested somewhere in the neighborhood of half of all Xbox One users have used backwards compatibility in some capacity. The number he provided was a total of 508 total hours spent playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One.
These numbers are following a growth trend, as the number of hours is up from 145 million in August 2016 and 210 million in November 2016. It is then important to note that the service started in November 2015.
What does this mean? It means that sure, backwards compatibility is not a majority-used feature. However, it also does not mean the feature is not in demand or in notable use. Usage has also increased considerably, in the time since the program has launched. This is likely due to the variety and inclusion of more popular software over time.
Source: Twitter