As Xbox prepares for "the biggest technological leap ever" with its next-gen hardware, it sets up a preservation team to future-proof the platform

Xbox appears to be going all in on preservation, as it has set up an entire team to ensure the future of the platform.

A few years back, Xbox put a big effort into making many of its older Xbox and Xbox 360 titles playable on the Xbox One and Series X/S, a move that was welcomed by many as it made it a whole lot easier to play many classics that would otherwise have needed you lug out your old consoles you aren't even sure you had all the cables for, still. Now, as reported by Windows Central, a recent email sent by Xbox president Sarah Bond to the company's staff has shared that an entire team focused on preservation has been set up.

"We have formed a new team dedicated to game preservation, important to all of us at Xbox and the industry itself," wrote Bond. "We are building on our strong history of delivering backwards compatibility to our players, and we remain committed to bringing forward the amazing library of Xbox games for future generations of players to enjoy." According to sources that spoke with Windows Central, Microsoft is possibly going to share more on this point around its annual showcase this summer, which might also reveal Gears of War 6.

Bond also spoke of the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and new hardware, writing, "It’s been nearly six months since we came together as an organisation. Our collective achievements in that timeframe are tremendous. Everyone should feel incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and excited about the opportunities ahead. We are moving full speed ahead on our next generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation."

As always, that sounds like quite the claim, especially as a similar kind of language is used by Xbox every console upgrade, but it's not that surprising that the company is already working on a next-gen console.

Slightly frustratingly, Bond also apparently said that, "At a time when the gaming industry's growth is flattening, ours continues," despite the fact that Microsoft laid off 1900 staff members from its video game division earlier this year. But sure, growth!