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This is part of a full length interview Phil Spencer did for Axios. Split into it's own article. There's also a quote from Video Game History Foundation head (and former Digital Eclipse employee) Frank Cifaldi.My hope (and I think I have to present it that way as of now) is as an industry we'd work on legal emulation that allowed modern hardware to run any (within reason) older executable allowing someone to play any game,
Emulation is the path of least resistance for re-releasing games originally written for dead platforms, there just isn't a better way that is commercially viable.
I wonder if Phil is actively considering getting the OG Xbox/360 emulator working on PC (Albeit most likely locked to Windows 11) at this point? I feel like this would be the next step for them. Since adding new games is (at best) currently on a lengthy hiatus. Just locking them to Xcloud for that platform isn't really a good idea.
It should also be important to remember that Microsoft worked out a deal with Nintendo on their preservation efforts. Allowing them to re-release old Rareware games like Banjo-Kazooie using NERD's emulators.
Despite the criticism of the emulator and slow updates, Nintendo has been doing a fairly good job of rescuing older titles that wouldn't otherwise be re-released. With their biggest example being a previously unreleased English localization of Magical Drop II.
Then there's Sony, which is uhhhh.....