Waiting for details surrounding the NEXT XBOX SYSTEM…
2 Conclusions can be made, from the recent Freeze placed on Backwards Compatibility.
The first, which would make a TON of sense, is that “Project Scarlett” will have chipsets that allow emulation of the previous consoles, via hardware. This would would make any games work… regardless of having a Runtime Environment, catered to each game. Simply pop the old games into the NEW system, and poof, it boots up. While this would be the Ideal way for gamers to experience retro gaming at its finest, it has not been confirmed. While I would love to think that there are still games I have not played, that were gems, there are a few games, that simply had licensing issues, and could not be brought forward digitally… (eg. Forza Horizon for the 360).
The second option, which is the most likely, is that games are being tuned to better make use of the Scarlett Hardware. Forza Motorsport 4, like many have said, is one of those games that feels timeless. It has so many cars and so many tracks, that offering it as a First Round, Next Gen, Backwards compatible game, with HI-RES MODE FULL TIME, (it only used Hi-res in photomode, and only on a single vehicle) the game could look absolutely amazing. Throw in a 4K textures pack, and we are talking an EASY, Welcome back to the Xbox Generation, FREE game, to kick off the Launch of the console.
The earlier games in the series are archaic in comparison, and with the exception of the Original Forza Motorsport, have little reason to be played instead of FM4.
So yeah… Both of these options, point to Forza Motorsport 4, to become a BC game… bottom line is, Licensing may expire prior to Scarlett’s arrival.