What Xbox announced
Xbox said 21 more original Xbox games are coming to PC, which brings the Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC library to 25 games as the brand marks 25 years. It also introduced achievements for four original Xbox games, with more planned over time. Jason Ronald, Xbox's VP of Next Generation, wrote the Xbox Wire post on November 12, 2026.
Both KOTOR games are in the batch: the first game and Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords.
The rest of the 21 are:
- Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
- Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Star Wars: Starfighter – Special Edition
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Armed and Dangerous
- Disney's Chicken Little
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
- Red Faction II
- Secret Weapons Over Normandy
- Thrillville
- TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
Other outlets counted the Star Wars titles in the full 25-game library at 11. That count includes both KOTOR games.
Achievements: the real headline
Original Xbox games never had achievements. The first to get them are KOTOR, KOTOR II, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper and Conker: Live and Reloaded.
- They also apply when you play these games on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. Xbox says to install the latest system update first.
- In some cases, achievements may unlock based on progress you've already made.
- Xbox says it worked with each game's developers and publishers so the achievements fit the spirit of each title.
A caution on the numbers: one outlet, GamesReviews, reports that each of the four achievement lists runs past 40 entries. I haven't confirmed that against Xbox's own listings, so treat it as unverified.
Price and Play Anywhere
Xbox's US store listing shows the first KOTOR at $9.99. It carries the Xbox Play Anywhere label and lists PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S as supported platforms. Listed capabilities include achievements, cloud saves and single-player play. That is US storefront information. Prices and availability may differ elsewhere.
Play Anywhere means one digital purchase should work on both console and Windows. Xbox's July launch post described license carry-over for the original four games. The November post adds a general caveat: features vary by game, and a purchase or Game Pass subscription may be required.
Game Pass is not a given here. Xbox marked only Morrowind and Grabbed by the Ghoulies among the 21 as also available with Game Pass. KOTOR isn't labeled that way, so assume you need to buy it.
Which version should PC players choose?
ScreenRant's Ben Brosofsky notes that the Steam version also sells for $9.99, and that the Xbox release is a port of the console version rather than the original PC release. He argues that PC players who rely on community mods and fixes, especially for The Sith Lords, may prefer to stay on Steam. That is his opinion. Xbox's announcement and store pages don't address mod support, so I can't confirm whether the Xbox version supports those tools.
A reasonable way to decide:
- You play on both Xbox and PC: the Xbox version's Play Anywhere license and shared achievements are the draw.
- You want achievements: the Xbox listing shows them for both games. ScreenRant says only The Sith Lords has them on Steam.
- You depend on mods: check before you buy. GamesFinity, another outlet, argues that owners of the PC versions should keep theirs. That is its view, not Xbox's.
Requirements and rollout
Xbox's footnote says the program requires Windows 11, a download, and availability in select markets. Windows 10 players are left out.
Xbox published the program's specifications at its July launch, not for this batch. They may not match what the KOTOR titles need.
- Minimum: an Nvidia GTX 950, AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel Arc A310 GPU, a four-core/eight-thread CPU such as a Core i3-10300 or Ryzen 3 3100, 8 GB of RAM and 4 GB of video memory.
- Recommended: a GTX 1070 Ti, RX 6800S or Arc A770, a six-core/12-thread CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 8 GB of video memory.
Xbox says every game in the PC catalog now supports mouse and keyboard. It also says performance and stability improved for the original four games. Those improvements weren't made specifically for KOTOR.
The July launch post also lists display options such as up to 4x resolution upscaling, VSync, fullscreen and windowed modes, anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing. It describes them as features added across the program, but it doesn't confirm them game by game. Xbox says it will bring more original Xbox games to PC but gives no schedule.
What this isn't
This is not the KOTOR remake. ScreenRant says that project still has no firm release, and Xbox's post doesn't mention it. Don't read the backward-compatibility drop as a sign of remake news. As Brosofsky puts it, he isn't waiting with bated breath.
Bottom line
For about ten dollars, you can run a 2003 RPG on a Windows 11 PC through the Xbox app, with Play Anywhere and Xbox achievements. If you have a console too, that's an easy upgrade. If you're a PC modder, you may want to stay on Steam or GOG until someone confirms how the Xbox version handles mods.