How to transfer Xbox 360 game saves to Series S/X cloud storage for free
This is how you can bring your Xbox 360 saves over to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S through the cloud.
Xbox Series X and S are backward compatible with the Xbox 360. All games even benefit from improved load times, framerate, and native support for high-dynamic range to improve the visuals, so there's a reason to continue playing them on next-gen consoles. Surprisingly, even the saves will carry over, so if you want to return to a game like Fable 2 on Xbox Series X after all these years, you can — but it's not the most intuitive thing to figure out.
Over 500 Xbox 360 games are already backward compatible with Xbox Series X and S. Xbox Director of Program Management Jason Ronald also tells Inverse that Microsoft is interested in supporting even more games, so this is a crucial feature for Xbox 360 gamers who may have switched to PlayStation 4 in the current generation.
Here's how to transfer your Xbox 360 cloud saves to an Xbox Series X or S.
Step 1: Go to the Storage Option in Settings
To bring your Xbox 360 saves over to the next-gen consoles via the cloud, you'll have to find the saves in question.
After tracking down your Xbox 360 and booting it up for what's likely the first time in a while, head on over to the Settings menu. From there, go into the System category and then choose Storage. From there, you should be able to view all of the games and saves on your console's hard drive.
Xbox Series X and S both support backward compatibility out of the box.
Step 2: Move the Game Saves to the Cloud
Once you are on the menu mentioned above, choose the storage device that most of your saves are on. Xbox 360 models typically have 8 to 256 Gigabytes of storage internally but also support expandable storage. Check whatever storage you have on your system and find the game saves, and click on whichever backward compatible Xbox 360 game you're looking to retrieve save files from.
From there, click the "Move" option and then "Cloud Saved Games" after that. Previously, this option was only available to people with an Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Ahead of the Xbox Series X and S's launch, Microsoft gave anyone with an Xbox 360 the option to do this, even if their Xbox Live Gold subscription has lapsed.
Step 3: Access your saves on Xbox Series X and S
After repeating the above step for as many games as you want, you'll need to make sure it works. Once the next-generation Xbox consoles are in your hands, you can redownload the Xbox 360 games that you own to your next-generation consoles.
If your save transfer worked, you should be able to access these games right from where your saved left off and finish them while experiencing the enhancements that playing it on Xbox Series X or S instead of an Xbox 360 brings.
Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are currently available.
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