With Xbox Series X hype now in full gear, gamers the world over are starting to contemplate what exactly an upgrade to the new Series range of consoles actually means for them.
From a backwards compatibility standpoint, Microsoft says that the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games will be available to play on Xbox Series X and Series S. There is some confusion amongst the community, however, such as whether both consoles will treat backwards compatibility the same way.
Microsoft has stated that Xbox One upgrades of Xbox 360 games will run similarly on Series S, with more visual refining on Series X given the obvious different in raw power between the two consoles.
The good news, as confusing as it all may be, is that we’ll be able to play our Xbox One games on our new Series X or Series S. The bad news is that, in most cases, we need to pay for the upgrade, either via purchasing pricier versions of the Xbox One version, or buying the Series X version outright.
Cyberpunk 2077, the highly anticipated open-world RPG from Witcher 3 developer, CD Projekt RED, will be hitting Xbox One on November 19. And, if you’ve been following the latest gaming news, you’d know that nine days before then, the Xbox Series X and Series S will be unleashed upon the masses.
Things are still a little complicated, though. Cyberpunk 2077 is most definitely getting an Xbox Series X upgrade. That is, a version specifically for the Series X and Series S will be released in 2021. This version of the game will not work on Xbox One.
But the Xbox One version will work on Series X and Series. Okay, so maybe that’s not too confusing.
The Cyberpunk team has actually gone to some length to ensure people that the game will be playable day one on Xbox Series X, even though it’s not the full optimised version exclusively for the console. So I guess we can look at the future release as somewhat of a “remaster”, mere months after the release of the Xbox One version.
Okay so let’s go over the basis again, shall we? On November 10, gamers will get their hands on the Series X. From November 19, Series X owners will be able to purchase the Xbox One version of Cyberpunk 2077, and play it on their new console.
There’s still a planned upgrade coming later on, however.
“A later upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of the next-gen hardware, will be available for free,” the studio announced on Twitter.
CPR has been pretty clear in that the refined Series X version of Cyberpunk 2077 will be merely a free “upgrade”, so if you purchase the Xbox One version, you won’t actually need to purchase the Series X version again in order to get that specific version: it may simply be a matter of downloading (a likely huge) update to bring the game up to the Series X standard.
So there you have it. Hopefully more developers take this route, rather than the 2K and Activision route of forcing gamers to pay extra in order to net the Series X version of their game.
