While Sony made every effort to undo reality with its dream line-up of future games at this year's E3, Microsoft was quietly building a strong case for making up lost ground in 2015. Alongside footage of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears 4 and Sea of Thieves, the big M just so happened to reveal a feature it categorically denied was possible back in 2013: backwards compatibility.

In the latest issue of Edge, head of Microsoft's Xbox division Phil Spencer discusses what it was like knowing that Xbox One could support Xbox 360 games, and why 2015 was the right time to pull back the curtain (especially if it means you go back and play forgotten gems such as Viva Piñata). "This, for me, as a gamer and as somebody who cares so much about the brand, has been the hardest thing about not leaking it," he says. "I’ve wanted to tell people, 'Hold onto your 360 games!' There were a hundred times where people had to stop me from tweeting that out over the past six months, because as I would see a game that works I wanted to tell people: 'Keep it – don’t sell that! Even if you sell your 360, keep your games!'"

The latest issue of Edge, with Dark Souls 3 on the cover, is out now. Download it here or subscribe to future issues.