A leaked Microsoft document, first reported by The Verge, claims the company is aiming to make Xbox 360 games playable on PC — a move that would extend the console's two-decade-old library onto a completely different class of hardware.

According to the document, Xbox 360 titles would run on "Xbox PCs," handheld gaming PCs, and Microsoft's upcoming successor to the Xbox Series X|S, internally called Project Helix. The feature would reportedly roll out between 2027 and 2028, tying into a broader roadmap of upcoming Microsoft features. The Verge

Developers who opt in would keep meaningful control: they could set their own price and decide whether their compatible title joins Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service that offers a rotating catalogue of games for a monthly fee. That detail matters because backwards compatibility programs have historically been curated by the platform holder, not the original creators.

The Xbox 360 launched in 2005 and sold tens of millions of units before Microsoft discontinued it in 2016. The console's library includes hundreds of titles spanning the peak of the physical-disc era. Microsoft already built a full Xbox 360 emulator for the Xbox One — software that lets one machine run games built for another — so the technical foundation for emulation on PC is not new, even if extending it to open PC hardware raises different challenges.

Alongside the Xbox 360 plans, the leaked document sheds light on Microsoft's disc-to-digital program. The feature would let players insert an Xbox One or Xbox Series game disc into an Xbox console with a disc drive and receive a digital licence tied to their account. If the disc changes hands — sold, traded, given away — the licence transfers to the new owner, and the original owner loses access. The Verge

The disc-to-digital feature works only with Xbox One and Xbox Series X discs. It does not cover Xbox 360 or original Xbox discs. Microsoft's public beta was originally scheduled for July, with general availability in August, but The Verge reports the beta has been delayed to an unspecified time, and it is unclear whether the August timeline still holds. The Verge

Microsoft has already begun bringing original Xbox games to PC. Four titles were announced in July — Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Fuzion Frenzy, Conker: Live and Reloaded, and Crimson Skies: High Road — with a full launch scheduled for October 2026. GameSpot

For players who have held onto physical collections, the disc-to-digital program offers a bridge between shelves of old discs and the digital libraries that now define how most people buy and play games. The Xbox 360-to-PC plan, if it materialises, would push that bridge further — turning a console generation that defined the late 2000s into something playable on hardware that did not exist when those games first shipped.

None of this has been officially confirmed by Microsoft beyond the leaked document, and the company's July "reset" — which included thousands of layoffs and the sale of four studios — means priorities could shift before any of these features ship.