How It Works
Xbox 360 games run inside an emulator on Xbox One, which is kind of like running Windows on a Mac through a virtual machine. Ultimately, it gives you much of the same functionality that you’d come to expect. Here’s how to check whether Xbox 360 games you digitally own are backward compatible:
Fire up your Xbox One and make sure you’re logged in Go to “My Games and Apps” and “Ready to Install” If your game is in the list, that means that you can play it on Xbox One!
How To Play Xbox 360 Games On Xbox One That You Physically Own
You might have some physical copies of games lying around, and for that, you’ll just need to insert the disc. Once it’s inserted, if your game is compatible, a window will pop up saying “To play this game, you need to download a free update”, along with how much space the update will need. Basically, instead of playing from the disc, Microsoft downloads it (the update) from the Xbox Store. It’s a little confusing, but after the “update” has been installed, you’ll need to make sure to keep the disk in, and/or put it in every time you want to play that Xbox 360 game. This is simply to verify that you do in fact own the game. If you’re worried about losing your progress on Xbox 360 games, as long as you had “Cloud Saved Games” enabled on your Xbox 360, your gameplay should sync on Xbox One.
Final Thoughts
Even though Microsoft has rolled out Xbox 360 compatibility on Xbox One, it’s important to note that you can’t use Xbox 360 accessories or the Kinect meant for Xbox 360, on Xbox One. Anyways, that’s all you need to know to play Xbox 360 games on Xbox One! To help save you a few seconds, we’ve put together a list of games that currently work on Microsoft’s latest gaming console.
The Complete List Of Compatible Xbox 360 Games
A Kingdom for Keflings A World of Keflings Aegis Wing Age of Booty Alan Wake Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Alice: Madness Returns Alien Hominid HD Altered Beast Anomaly Warzone Earth Aqua Assassin’s Creed Assassin’s Creed II Assassin’s Creed Rogue Asteroids and Deluxe Astropop Babel Rising Banjo Kazooie Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts Banjo Tooie BattleBlock Theater Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Battlefield 3 – disc only Bayonetta Bejeweled 2 Bejeweled 3 Bellator: MMA Onslaught Beyond Good and Evil HD BioShock BioShock 2 BioShock Infinite Blood Knights Blood of the Werewolf BloodRayne: Betrayal Bloodforge Blue Dragon Bomberman Battlefest Boom Boom Rocket Bound by Flame Borderlands Braid Brain Challenge Bully Burnout Paradise Call of Duty 2 Call of Duty 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops Call of Duty: World at War Call of Juarez Gunslinger Capcom Arcade Cabinet Carcassonne Castle Crashers Castlestorm Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse Catherine Centipede and Millipede Comic Jumper Comix Zone Condemned: Criminal Origins Counter-Strike: GO Crazy Taxi Crystal Defenders Crystal Quest Dark Souls Dark Void Dead Space Dead Space Ignition Deadliest Warrior: Legends DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue Defense Grid Dig Dug Deus Ex: Human Revolution Dirt 3 Dirt Showdown Discs of Tron Domino Master Doom Doom II Doom 3 BFG Edition Doritos Crash Course Double Dragon Neon Dragon Age: Origins Duck Tales: Remastered Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project Dungeon Siege III Earthworm Jim HD Eat Lead Escape Dead Island Fable II Fable III Faery: Legends of Avalon Fallout 3 Fallout: New Vegas Feeding Frenzy Feeding Frenzy 2 Flashback Final Fight: Double Impact Forza Horizon Foul Play Fret Nice Frogger Frogger 2 Galaga Galaga Legions Galaga Legions DX Garou: Mark of the Wolves Gatling Gears Gears of War Gears of War 2 Gears of War 3 Gears of War: Judgment Geometry Wars Evolved Ghostbusters Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime Go! Go! Break Steady Golden Axe GRID 2 Gripshift Guardian Heroes Gunstar Heroes Guwange Gyromancer Half-Minute Hero – Super Mega Neo Climax Halo: Reach Halo: Spartan Assault Halo Wars Hardwood Backgammon Hardwood Hearts Hardwood Spades Heavy Weapon Hexic 2 Hexic HD Hydro Thunder I Am Alive Ikaruga Interpol Iron Brigade Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad Jet Set Radio Jetpac Refuelled Joe Danger Joe Danger 2: The Movie Joust Joy Ride Turbo Just Cause 2 Kameo Kane and Lynch 2 King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match King of Fighters 2012 Unlimited Match Lazy Raiders Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 LEGO Batman LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga Lode Runner Lost Odyssey Lumines Live! Magic 2012 Mars: War Logs Mass Effect Mass Effect 2 Mass Effect 3 Medal of Honor: Airborne Metal Slug 3 Metal Slug XX Midway Arcade Origins Might and Magic Clash of Heroes Mirror’s Edge Missile Command Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine Monday Night Combat Monkey Island: SE Monkey Island 2: SE Monopoly Plus Moon Diver Motocross Madness Ms. Splosion Man MS.PAC-MAN Mutant Blobs Attack Mutant Storm Empire MX vs. ATV Reflex N+ NBA Jam: On Fire Edition NeoGeo Battle Coliseum NiGHTS into Dreams Nin2-Jump Oblivion (The Elder Scrolls IV) Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Operation Flashpoint: Red River Outland Pac-Man Pac-Man Museum Pac-Man Championship Edition PAC-MAN CE DX+ Peggle Perfect Dark Perfect Dark Zero Phantasy Star II Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Pinball FX Plants vs. Zombies Portal: Still Alive Portal 2 Prince of Persia Pure Putty Squad Puzzlegeddon Puzzle Quest Puzzle Quest Galactrix Puzzle Quest 2 R-Type Dimensions Rainbow Six Vegas Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Raskulls Rayman Legends Rayman Origins Rayman 3 HD Red Dead Redemption Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien Sacred 3 Sacred Citadel Saints Row IV Samurai Shodown II Sam and Max Save the World Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space Scarygirl Scrap Metal Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd and Co. Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage Shadow Complex Shadows of the Damned Skate 3 Skullgirls Silent Hill: Downpour Small Arms Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Sonic and Knuckles Sonic CD Sonic the Fighters Sonic The Hedgehog Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Soul Caliber Soul Caliber II HD South Park: The Stick of Truth Space Giraffe Space Invaders Infinity Gene Spelunky Splosion Man SSX Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Strania Sega Bass Fishing Super Meat Boy Supreme Commander 2 Syberia Tekken 6 Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Texas Hold’em Ticket to Ride The Cave The Orange Box The Maw The Splatters Torchlight Tour de France 2009 Toy Soldiers Toy Soldiers Cold War Toy Story 3 Trials HD Triggerheart Exelica Trine 2 Tron: Evolution Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon Unbound Saga Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown Viva Piñata Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Wolfenstein 3D XCOM: Enemy Unknown XCOM: Enemy Within Zuma Zuma’s Revenge!