Rumors have been swirling that Microsoft might be working with the Xbox 360 emulator Xenia to bring Xbox games natively to Windows PCs. Well, those whispers got a loud and clear response from the emulator’s developers themselves, who shut down the chatter and made it obvious: no, they aren’t teaming up with Microsoft in any way. This matters because with Microsoft’s recent hardware moves and their push to get Xbox games everywhere, fans are curious if a seamless Xbox-PC bridge is in the works.
Microsoft, of course, is a giant beyond just gaming, constantly competing with other tech giants like Apple and Nvidia for the top market value spot. Yet, when it comes to consoles, it’s often seen as the third wheel behind Nintendo and Sony, while on PC it’s a major player but still somewhat overshadowed by platforms like Steam. So, naturally, people are wondering what big plans Xbox head Phil Spencer has for the future, especially with rumors about a handheld Xbox and cross-platform ambitions flying around.
One hot theory was that Microsoft might use Xenia’s open-source emulator to help bring Xbox 360 games to PC, potentially blending Xbox’s back catalog with PC gaming in one neat package. But nope. Jebobs, a key contributor to Xenia, took to their Discord to say the team is not associated with Microsoft at all. In fact, Microsoft already has its own emulation tech for backward compatibility on Xbox consoles, so there’s no reason to tap Xenia for anything.
Here’s a direct quote from Jebobs: “The Xenia (and Xenia Canary, by extension) team is by no means associated with, nor working alongside Microsoft in any capacity. Microsoft uses their own emulation to provide backwards compatibility on Xbox One/Series consoles and as such has no reason to work together with Xenia, even if they decided to bring these titles to PC.” They also emphasized that Xenia is a community-run project focused on legal emulation.
The point was hammered home by fellow dev ZolaKluke who reacted strongly to the rumors: “What f AI ChatGPT stuff have you been reading? If it was real I’d be under an NDA… Plus Microsoft has their own emulator why would they even touch Xenia?” Wow, that’s a strong no.
So yeah, the rumor that Microsoft and Xenia are working together is pretty much dead in the water. Does that mean Microsoft isn’t cooking up some wild Xbox hardware or software surprises behind the scenes? Probably not. But if they are, it’s not with Xenia’s help.
