It’s now been officially announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 backwards compatibility is available today for Xbox One. It joins a host of classic backwards compatible Xbox Original and Xbox 360 games that are playable on Microsoft’s new console, including both Modern Warfare 1 and 3, but what does COD MW2 backwards compatibility actually mean? How can you play Modern Warfare 2 on your Xbox One? We’re here to help.
What Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Backwards Compatibility Means
Basically, backwards compatibility is the function that allows a previous generation’s console games to played on the current generation. Microsoft have been very good at adding new classic games to their line-up of backwards compatible titles, which can all be easily played on Xbox One. There are currently 527 Xbox 360 and Xbox Original games that are backwards compatible on Xbox One.
Whether this means that Modern Warfare 2 Remastered will actually happen now is another matter, but the first Modern Warfare was also made backwards compatible and that also got a Remastered version. Whether it will be included with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is another matter, but right now every Xbox One player can play the regular MW2 on Xbox One.
Do I need Xbox Live Gold to play backwards compatible games?
You do not need Xbox Live Gold to use backwards compatibility run Modern Warfare 2 or any game on Xbox One, it’s a totally free service. However, if the game itself requires Xbox Live Gold for multiplayer, which we believe MW2 does, then you’ll need Gold to play that just as you would on Xbox 360.
How To Use COD MW2 Backwards Compatibility On Xbox One
Fortunately Microsoft has made backwards compatibility on Xbox One a simple matter to get working. There are two ways to play Modern Warfare 2 on the console: digitally and with physical disc. Digital is the easiest. If you already own Modern Warfare 2 digitally and have it in your Xbox games library, it should now show up in the ‘Ready To Install’ section on your Xbox One.
If you own a physical disc copy of the game it’s slightly different. You can’t play the disc directly as you did on Xbox 360, instead you pop the disc into your Xbox One and it will download the digital version of the game for free. You can then play the digital version instead. Obviously you’ll need enough room on your hard drive, of course: it’s 6.79Gb. If you haven’t got the game already you can either buy the digital version or get a second-hand copy somewhere, but you better hurry as prices tend to go up once a game goes backwards compatible.
