Microsoft recently filed a patent for a system that would automatically implement certain enhancements in older games when played over the cloud. These proposed improvements aren’t described in great detail, but, in essence, it seems like a move meant to make maintaining aging titles easier while also decreasing the demand for remakes and remasters. Microsoft has placed a major emphasis on game preservation over the past few years, and implementing a system that could theoretically help to automate this process seems like a great way to keep up with that goal.
Of the three home console heavyweights of the modern era, Microsoft’s Xbox has the smallest amount of history to preserve. Launched in late 2001 in North America, the Xbox console line came a generation after Sony first debuted the PlayStation and was roughly a decade and a half behind Nintendo’s arrival on the scene. However, Microsoft can stake a claim to the PC gaming space with which few others can compete; released all the way back in 1979, Microsoft’s Adventure was one of the very first PC gaming titles ever, and many would like to see the company’s long history of PC gaming remain playable.
The Microsoft patent seems to describe a cloud-based game streaming service that interacts in real-time with a game and provides on-the-fly enhancements. First and foremost, this is probably meant to help improve performance, as older titles—particularly aging PC games—tend to run poorly on modern hardware. As a result, it’s often up to dedicated fans to produce patches to fix unplayable games, but Microsoft’s new tech could circumvent the need for that.
The Xbox brand has a remarkable track record when it comes to preservation; the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X all have the ability to play older Xbox games either physically or digitally, albeit with a few caveats. In 2017, Xbox head Phil Spencer compared the systems’ backward compatibility options to art preservation, and Microsoft’s gaming division seems to have adhered to that mentality.
Unfortunately, other major publishers don’t hold the same values. Nintendo has become infamous for nixing out-of-date online services, storefronts, and digital-only games. The Nintendo Wii eShop was closed back in 2019, and the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops are set to be shuttered in early 2023. Needless to say, that’s a shame for preservationists, and, while Microsoft’s new patent could make preservation easier, it will still be a while before video game preservation is taken as seriously as it is with other forms of art.