Why Backwards Compatibility Still Matters in 2025

If you think about it, video games are the youngest art form in human history, with just over 73 years of existence. Thanks to rapid advancements in technology, games that were once played in person have evolved into digital experiences enjoyed by millions whether single-player or multiplayer.

From its early beginnings with Pong to iconic franchises like Super Mario, gaming has grown alongside technological progress. As we moved from 8-bit to 64-bit and beyond, video games transformed into the most profitable entertainment industry in the world.

That’s why, in the interest of preserving gaming’s cultural and creative history, I want to advocate for something crucial: backwards compatibility.

Why It Matters Now More Than Ever

Many gamers, including myself, believe we’ve reached something of a graphical plateau. Modern games look so realistic they’re often mistaken for real life. A particularly bizarre example? Foreign government propaganda have used Arma III footage in reports of real-world conflict, alleging it for actual war footage. That says a lot about how far we’ve come.

Still, I’m just as impressed by the graphical achievements of retro games, especially from the N64, PS1, and original Xbox era. That’s when gaming’s popularity truly exploded, and sales data from those years backs it up.

Some might not value games from 20 years ago, but that mindset is shortsighted. I want the next generation of gamers to be able to play today’s greats: Halo Infinite, The Last of Us Part II, GTA 6 in the future, just as we can revisit the classics.

Let’s Not Repeat Past Mistakes

This issue is mainly a console problem, PC gamers don’t really face it thanks to the platform’s open nature and flexibility. But console users have long struggled with losing access to their old libraries as hardware generations change and evolve.

The good news is, things are slowly improving:

• Xbox leads the charge with robust native backwards compatibility and patches for an impressive list of original Xbox and Xbox 360 games.

• PlayStation is making strides via cloud streaming if you are subscribed to PlayStation Plus Premium service, and in some cases, local downloads of older PS2/PS3 titles

• Nintendo offers retro games through the NSO + Expansion Pack, though only via a subscription.

But here’s the problem: outside of Xbox, the others to some varying degrees lock their retro games catalogue access behind subscriptions. There's no true ownership. And that’s a big issue.

Ownership Still Matters

I believe and I know many others do too that we should own the games we buy. Initiatives like Stop Killing Games have emerged, where gamers have petitioned the European Union to examine predatory practices in the industry, especially around Games as a Service (GaaS) models that disappear when servers shut down.

This is an amazing display of the consensus the gaming community has: we don't own licenses to access the products we buy, we own them and want to use them whenever we want. With important initiatives like this it's important for us to demand our consumer rights, even if these corporations can change their EULA or those lengthy terms and conditions, we shall not tolerate outright termination of the favourite games we love to play.

Owning your games is fundamental. It gives us the right to access and preserve our digital history, especially when emulators are still stigmatized and many older games were designed around unique hardware like the Wii, Wii U, PlayStation Move, or Kinect. Sure, workarounds exist, but they’re not faithful to the original experience.

A Better Future. But We’re Not There Yet

While we can’t change the past, the present looks promising. There are rumours surrounding Sony being aware of the importance of backwards compatibility and they will be making strides for the PlayStation 6 to be backwards compatible with the PS5.

The recently released Nintendo Switch 2 supports 99.9% of the original Switch library.

Xbox having the Play anywhere program launched and the rumours surrounding Game Pass adding Xbox 360 games is exciting.

These are encouraging signs but we have to stay vigilant as consumers and continue demanding better from our favourite gaming corporations. After all, we the consumers, should be catered to, not the other way around.

Your Turn: What Do You Think?

That’s enough from me. Now I’d love to hear from you:

• Do you use backwards compatibility often?

• What should it look like in the future: subscription-based access or full disc/digital ownership?

• Will we be able to put a PS5 disc into a PS7 and play that game natively?

Let’s keep the conversation going. Never settle for less!