25 Original Xbox Games Now Playable on PC via Backward Compatibility

Microsoft has added 21 more original Xbox games to Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC, bringing the total library of original 2001-era Xbox titles playable on Windows 11 to 25. The announcement, posted to Xbox's own news site on November 12, 2026 as part of the console's 25th-anniversary celebration, also confirms that four of those games — Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, and Conker: Live and Reloaded — now support Xbox achievements for the first time, on PC and on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles alike.

Here's what Microsoft confirmed, how the expanded lineup breaks down, and exactly what you need to actually play these 25-year-old games on a PC today.

What Microsoft Announced

In a post titled "25 Original XBOX Games Available Today on PC via XBOX Backward Compatibility," written by Jason Ronald, Xbox's VP of Next Generation, Microsoft confirmed that 21 additional original Xbox games are now playable on PC through Xbox Backward Compatibility, joining four titles that arrived earlier in 2026. That brings the running total to 25 original Xbox games available on PC, a milestone timed deliberately to land on the same day as the console's 25th anniversary.

The post frames the expansion as an ongoing project rather than a one-time drop: Microsoft says more original Xbox games are planned to come to PC in the future, though it did not name specific upcoming titles or a timeline. The announcement sits alongside a wider slate of 25th-anniversary news that Xbox published the same day, including Halo: Campaign Evolved's free Firefight mode update, new Fable gameplay footage, and anniversary in-game items across several first-party titles. Those are separate stories; this one is specifically about playing games originally built for the 2001 Xbox console on a modern PC.

The Full List of 25 Original Xbox Games on PC

Microsoft's own list, as published on Xbox's news site, splits into the 21 games added on November 12, 2026, and the four that had already been enabled earlier this year. The table below reflects Microsoft's own groupings and notes which titles are also included with an active Xbox Game Pass subscription, per Xbox's post.

That lineup leans heavily on Star Wars, with eight of the 21 new additions carrying the license — a reminder of how much of LucasArts' original Xbox output Microsoft now controls the rights to. Elsewhere, the batch covers cult favorites like TimeSplitters 2 and genuine curiosities like Disney's Chicken Little, alongside The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, which remains one of the most requested backward-compatibility additions from Bethesda's catalog.

New Today vs. Already Available

It's worth separating the two waves, since Xbox's post treats them differently. The four games that arrived earlier in 2026 — BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy — were the pilot batch for original Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC. According to Microsoft, those four titles have since picked up mouse-and-keyboard support, along with performance and stability improvements, and they're confirmed to run on handheld PCs such as the ROG Xbox Ally family.

The 21 titles added on November 12 are the new wave announced this week. Microsoft's post does not state that mouse-and-keyboard support or handheld optimization has already been extended to all 21 new games on day one, only that the broader improvements were made to the original four. Anyone planning to play the new additions on a handheld or with a mouse and keyboard should check each game's store page for confirmed input and device support before buying.

How to Play Original Xbox Games on PC

Based on Microsoft's own announcement, here's what's required to actually get one of these games running:

• Operating system: Windows 11. Microsoft's post does not list original Xbox Backward Compatibility as available on Windows 10.
• A download: Each game requires its own download through the Xbox app on PC rather than running as a browser-streamed title.
• Ownership or Game Pass: You'll need to either own the specific game or have an active Xbox Game Pass subscription that includes it — Microsoft's post flags six of the 25 titles (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy) as included with Game Pass; the rest need to be purchased individually from their Xbox store pages.
• Regional availability: Microsoft specifies the feature is live in select markets only, so availability can vary by country.
• Feature variance: Microsoft says supported features — such as achievement support, mouse-and-keyboard input, and handheld compatibility — vary by individual game, and directs players to check each title's listing on Xbox's game compatibility page for the specifics that apply to it.

In practice, that means the process looks like any other PC game install through the Xbox app: find the title (for example, Morrowind's Xbox store listing or Knights of the Old Republic's store page), confirm you own it or that it's covered by your Game Pass tier, and install it like you would any modern Xbox PC release. There's no separate emulator or legacy launcher to manage — Backward Compatibility on PC is built into the same Xbox app that handles current-generation PC games, which Microsoft has also been actively overhauling; a recent update covered in our look at the faster Xbox app for PC, web, and cloud gaming focused on load times and navigation across that same storefront.

Achievements Arrive for Four Original Xbox Classics

Alongside the expanded game count, Microsoft's post highlights a feature that's new to the original Xbox library specifically: achievements. Four games — Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, and Conker: Live and Reloaded — now have achievement support for the first time, decades after their original release on hardware that predated the Xbox 360's achievement system entirely.

Microsoft says these achievements work across platforms: on PC, and also on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles where the games are already backward-compatible. To unlock them, players need to be running the latest Xbox system update, and the post notes that some achievements may unlock immediately based on progress players have already made in those games. Microsoft also says it consulted with the original developers and publishers on how the achievement lists for these games were designed, rather than generating them automatically. The company indicates more original Xbox titles are expected to receive achievement support over time, without naming which ones are next.

Handhelds, Windows 11, and Game Pass

Two platform details stand out from the announcement. First, Microsoft explicitly ties the original four Backward Compatibility titles to handheld PCs, naming the ROG Xbox Ally family as a device where those games run with the improved performance and stability Microsoft describes. That matters for anyone who picked up a Windows-based gaming handheld expecting it to double as a way to revisit Xbox's earliest library.

Second, Game Pass plays a real role in the rollout. Six of the 25 games — The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy — are called out in Microsoft's post as also being part of Game Pass, meaning subscribers can install and play them without an individual purchase, subject to the usual regional and tier restrictions that apply to Game Pass's library. If you're tracking what's rotating in and out of the service more broadly, our recap of Xbox Game Pass's November 2026 Wave 1 additions covers the rest of that month's lineup outside of this backward-compatibility news.

Part of Xbox's 25th-Anniversary Celebration

Microsoft published this announcement on November 12, 2026, the same day it rolled out a broader slate of 25th-anniversary news. Xbox's own recap of that day groups the original-Xbox-on-PC expansion alongside several unrelated announcements: a personal "Xbox Playback" history feature, anniversary-themed in-game items for titles including Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, new footage from the upcoming Fable, a free Slaughter Mode update for DOOM: The Dark Ages, and confirmation that Wolfenstein 3 is now officially in production at MachineGames.

The original Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001, with Japan and PAL regions following in early 2002, according to background on the console's history. Microsoft discontinued the hardware worldwide in 2006, and Xbox Live support for the console ended in 2010. Backward compatibility for original Xbox games has existed in limited forms since: the Xbox 360 supported a curated selection of titles starting in 2005 (with later additions through November 2007), and the Xbox One added a further limited set of original Xbox games following an announcement at E3 2017. This week's news marks the first time Microsoft has formally extended that backward-compatibility effort to Windows PCs at this scale, rather than keeping it console-exclusive.

A Short History of Xbox Backward Compatibility

For context on how unusual a 25-year-old game running natively on current Windows hardware actually is: the original Xbox used a customized Intel Pentium III-class CPU and an Nvidia graphics chip, architecture that has nothing in common with a modern PC's hardware beyond both ultimately being x86-based machines. Nvidia stopped producing that GPU in August 2005, not long before Microsoft discontinued the console entirely. Getting that hardware's games running correctly on Windows 11 machines, and reportedly on handheld devices like the ROG Xbox Ally, points to Microsoft maintaining dedicated emulation and compatibility engineering for its oldest library, the same groundwork that previously let Xbox 360 and Xbox One support a subset of original Xbox titles. Microsoft's PC announcement doesn't detail the underlying emulation technology itself, only the resulting feature set for players, so this piece sticks to what's confirmed rather than speculating on the technical implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many original Xbox games can I play on PC right now?

Twenty-five, as of Microsoft's November 12, 2026 announcement: 21 added that day plus four that had already been enabled earlier in 2026.

Do I need to buy every original Xbox game separately?

Not necessarily. Microsoft's post lists six of the 25 games as also included with an active Xbox Game Pass subscription; the rest require an individual purchase through their Xbox store pages.

What operating system do I need?

Windows 11, per Microsoft's announcement. The post does not list Windows 10 support for this feature.

Can I play these games on a handheld PC?

Microsoft confirms the original four Backward Compatibility titles run on handheld PCs such as the ROG Xbox Ally family. It does not explicitly confirm handheld support for all 21 newly added games on day one.

Do these games have achievements now?

Four of the 25 do: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, and Conker: Live and Reloaded. Microsoft says more are planned.

Is this the same announcement as the Halo: Campaign Evolved Firefight news?

No. Both were announced by Xbox on November 12, 2026 as part of its 25th-anniversary coverage, but they're separate stories about unrelated features.

What Happens Next

Microsoft's own post is explicit that this isn't the finish line: the company says more original Xbox games are planned to join Backward Compatibility on PC in the future, and that more titles are expected to gain achievement support as well, without committing to specific names or dates for either. For now, the practical next step for interested players is straightforward: check whether a specific original Xbox game you want is on the confirmed list of 25, verify it's covered by your Game Pass tier or buy it individually from its Xbox store page, make sure you're running Windows 11, and install it through the Xbox app. Anyone tracking the achievement rollout specifically should also keep their console or PC on the latest Xbox system update, since that's a prerequisite Microsoft calls out directly for unlocking the new achievement lists.

We'll update this piece if Microsoft names additional original Xbox titles for PC Backward Compatibility or expands achievement support further.

Written byJonah Reyes

Jonah Reyes leads Pandromeda's gaming coverage: console and handheld hardware, release dates, pricing changes, patch notes and the business moves behind the biggest franchises. He sources every date and price from the platform holders and publishers themselves, and says plainly when something is still only a rumour.

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