Microsoft may be preparing to take its Xbox backward compatibility plans much further by bringing Xbox 360 games to PC. According to a leaked document, the company is reportedly working on a program that would allow developers to make previously released Xbox 360 titles available for purchase and play on modern PCs.

The report comes shortly after Microsoft announced a new backward compatibility program for PC. That initial program brought four original Xbox games to PC, marking an important step toward making older console games available to a wider audience.

Now, it appears Microsoft could be preparing an even bigger expansion.

According to reporting from The Verge, a document shared with developers suggests that Xbox 360 backward compatibility could eventually be supported on Microsoft's upcoming Xbox PCs, Project Helix and future handheld gaming devices.

The program is reportedly expected to roll out gradually between 2027 and 2028. Rather than automatically making every Xbox 360 game available on PC, Microsoft could allow developers and publishers to decide whether their older games will participate.

This would give studios the option to bring games from their Xbox 360 libraries to modern hardware without necessarily requiring full ports. If the program works as expected, players could gain access to a large selection of older Xbox titles without needing to own the original console.

There are already signs that Microsoft has been working toward this kind of technology. When the four original Xbox games became available on PC last month, users discovered that they appeared to be running through a complex emulation setup.

The system reportedly uses an Xbox emulator running inside an Xbox 360 emulator. While that sounds complicated, emulator developers were reportedly able to get Microsoft's setup working with Xbox 360 game dumps after only limited reverse engineering.

That discovery made the idea of Xbox 360 games running through Microsoft's existing emulation technology seem much more realistic.

If Microsoft follows through with the plan, it could give the company a major advantage when it comes to preserving its older games. Xbox already has one of the industry's more extensive backward compatibility programs, allowing many Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to run on newer Xbox consoles.

Extending that support to PC would take the idea even further and could make older Xbox games accessible across a much wider range of devices. The leaked document reportedly contains information about another feature Microsoft has been testing as well: a disc-to-digital program.

This system would reportedly allow people who own physical Xbox One or Xbox Series X game discs to receive a digital license for those games. That could make it easier for players to access their existing libraries across Xbox devices without constantly needing the physical disc.

Unfortunately, Xbox 360 discs do not appear to be included in the planned disc-to-digital system. The reason has not been confirmed, although older Xbox 360 discs may not contain the licensing technology required for Microsoft's current approach.

There is still plenty that remains unknown about the Xbox 360 PC program. Microsoft has not officially announced the service, and the leaked information does not guarantee that every detail will become reality.

If the reported 2027–2028 rollout happens, however, it could represent one of Microsoft's biggest efforts yet to preserve and expand access to its older games.

Combined with Project Helix and Microsoft's plans for Xbox handhelds and PCs, the company appears to be moving toward an ecosystem where players may be able to access games from several generations of Xbox hardware without being tied to the original console.