Morrowind, TimeSplitters and Star Wars: more original Xbox games could be coming to PC

A new wave of original Xbox games could be coming to PC. That is what Microsoft Store catalogue data suggest, analysed by Reddit user esketitethan and picked up today by TrueAchievements and Insider Gaming. According to the post, 16 original Xbox titles have appeared in Microsoft's backend with Windows packages "similar to those of the original Xbox titles already released on PC".

The list includes eight Star Wars games: Battlefront, Battlefront II, Republic Commando, Jedi Academy, Episode III, The Clone Wars, Jedi Starfighter and Starfighter Special Edition. Then there are The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Red Faction II, Secret Weapons Over Normandy, Thrillville and Chicken Little. Insider Gaming also cites the XCT site, which counts 17 games, adding TimeSplitters 2 to the list. XCT says it checked all 65 backward-compatible original Xbox games on 12 November and found a Windows package only for these 17. It adds, however, that this is "a hint from catalogue data, not a confirmation": none of these games starts on PC today and Microsoft has not announced them.

The July precedent

There is a precedent. In July Xbox launched backward compatibility on PC and handheld devices with four original Xbox games: BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. At the time Jason Ronald, vice president of Next Generation, called it "the beginning of a broader commitment to preserve Xbox games of the past and bring them to PC over time". On PC those games run at four times the resolution, with anisotropic filtering and improved anti-aliasing, and digital licences bought on console also work on PC.

Several titles on the list, including Morrowind, Battlefront and Republic Commando, already exist in a PC version. Others, such as TimeSplitters: Future Perfect and Grabbed by the Ghoulies, have so far been released only on console. Xbox turns 25 on 15 November, and TrueAchievements speculates that some of these games could arrive during the celebrations. Microsoft has confirmed nothing.