If you thought Microsoft was pussy footing around with its commitment to no backwards-compatibility with the Xbox One, you are sorely mistaken. The Xbox One will not only not be able to play Xbox 360 games, but you won't be able to play your XBLA games on it either.

Speaking with Gamespot, Microsoft Game Studios vice president, Phil Spencer, was speaking about DRM on the console, when he was asked if the writer would be able to bring his XBLA games over to the One. Apparently not.

“Those games will continue to run on your Xbox 360 for as long as your Xbox 360 runs,” Spencer began. “The box is not backward compatible and we think for somebody who invests in a large digital library that you want to keep your [Xbox 360].” He went on to say that the Xbox 360 and Xbox One will share an account system, but reiterated that if you want to play anything Xbox 360, you'll need to keep one around.

I know some of us are fans of retro gaming, but not everyone wants multiple consoles cluttering up their living room.

The Xbox One is just one of many consoles you'll need, apparently

Spencer went on to say that because the Xbox 360 would be around for some time, Microsoft would continue to support it with arcade releases. He also alluded to a big Xbox 360 announcement at E3: “I think it's huge, [the Xbox 360] announcement for E3 that I keep wanting to talk about, but I can't. I think it will surprise people. I loved what we did with Minecraft; bring Minecraft to the box; six million units later it's kind of a beast. I think there's a lot of life in the [Xbox 360] for years to come.”

KitGuru Says: This seems so counter to Microsoft's idea for the Xbox One is supposed to be. Why is it bundling so many living room media functions together with gaming features, when in order to play anything older than 2013, I'll need another console entirely? This doesn't make the One the be all and end all of lounge electronics tech, it just makes it one of the gang. 

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