Xbox gamers are sharing games they hope will be backwards compatible

Although so many of its exclusive titles have been or will be released on PlayStation since then, one of the biggest reasons to own Xbox hardware to this day is its backwards compatibility program, which has made hundreds of titles from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 generations available on modern hardware, often with visual enhancements and Achievement support.

Unfortunately, the program officially ended in 2021 with the final batch of over 70 titles spanning both the OG Xbox and Xbox 360, including the entire Max Payne trilogy and FEAR. At the time, Microsoft noted that it had essentially reached the limit of what's possible, though its larger preservation work remains unchanged.

“While we continue to focus on preserving and improving the art form of the games, we have reached the limit of our ability to bring new games from the past to the catalog due to licensing, legal and technical restrictions,” the company wrote. “Thank you for being a part of this journey with us.”

Fast forward to today, and through a new fan poll, Xbox gamers are once again voicing what they'd like to see playable again, assuming the program returns.

Xbox fans hope that the program will one day return

The project, as first discovered by Windows Central, can be found on XboxGamePreservation.com, where players can vote for titles they want to be backwards compatible on the Xbox Series X/S and the recently revealed Project Helix.

According to the site's owner, Ryan Chodor, over 3,000 unique visitors came to the site through the LinkedIn post, with 335 voters and 2,483 votes cast. Surprisingly, the total votes are almost evenly split between the original Xbox and Xbox 360 at 51 percent and 49 percent respectively.

The top 10 titles in the current ranking account for 17 percent of the total votes, meaning the remaining 83 percent are spread across the entire Xbox library. Speaking of the Xbox library, 92 percent of original Xbox titles and 73 percent of Xbox 360 titles aren't on Chodora.

So what are the titles people want to see the most? Here is the Top 10 list in all its glory:

The Simpsons: Hit & Run (Xbox Original)
Silent Hill 4: The Room (Xbox original)
Burnout 3: Takedown (Xbox Original)
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox original)
Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox original)
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Xbox 360)
Sonic Heroes (Xbox original)
Spider-Man 2 (Xbox original)
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Xbox 360)
Blur (Xbox 360)

To this day, The Simpsons Hit & Run is a fan-favorite title that people want to see, while Spider-Man 2 is arguably the best movie-licensed game of all time.

Titles that received at least one vote and are at the bottom of the list? F1 2002, scene? Movie Night, Risen 3: Titan Lords and Rise of the Guardians, a licensed movie game from the 360 era.

Personally, the more games preserved the better, so bring every cult classic, Metacritic darling, and flop.