The Xbox Series X will add HDR support to older games

Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet to Sony by revealing new techniques it plans to use for old games on the new Xbox console.

One of the things that made the Xbox One this generation better than the PlayStation 4 was backward compatibility or support for running games from previous generations of consoles. While Sony decided to stream games for the PS3 via PlayStation Now, Microsoft has allowed Xbox One console owners to insert disc games for the X360 and launch the game with significant graphics improvements. In the picture above, you can see an example of the first Assassin’s Creed on the X360 console (left) and a sharper performance of the same game on the Xbox One X console.

It seems that backward compatibility could be a trump card for the new Xbox Series X. Namely, Microsoft has confirmed that after the release of this console, thousands of older games will be supported, from the first Xbox, through the Xbox 360 to Xbox One. As they say, these games will be able to use the full power of the Xbox Series X console, without the tricks of boost mode or downclocking. This is an obvious reference to the PlayStation 5 console technique, and Microsoft is convinced that their approach to running old games is better.

This will be seen over time, but it is interesting to announce how the team has developed new techniques to run old games on the new console. One such is the HDR reconstruction technique, which allows older games to have Xbox Series X automatically add HDR support to them, without affecting performance. HDR is, of course, an image display with a wider range of color and brightness.

If Microsoft really did something like that, in a slightly quality way, it could be of great importance because older X360 games, for example, did not even have HDR support. This means that old games on the Xbox Series X should look nicer than on any other platform, including the PC.

Of course, these are all theoretical claims until we see a concrete situation. However, in any case, Microsoft's efforts to do something good with older games without asking for additional investment from users should be commended.