In 2001, a new games console hit shelves
That competed with the established industry leaders PlayStation and Nintendo
It was of course, the Xbox
Which has been staking its claim as one of the best gaming platforms ever since
In anticipation of its fourth generation console, the Xbox Series X
It’s only right that we cover the origins
And progression of this much-loved entertainment brand
This is the evolution of Xbox
Before the Xbox, Microsoft had, besides making computer software
Already been successful with publishing games for PC
Such as Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator
Meanwhile, Sony was growing in popularity with the PlayStation 1
And was already working on the PlayStation 2
Because Sony became a threat for Microsoft
And video games were rapidly growing into a massive industry
Microsoft decided to venture into the console gaming market
As far back as 1998
The original development team for the Xbox pitched an idea to Bill Gates
For a console that could harness the power of a PC
The initial concept was dubbed the DirectX Box
And would operate using Windows 2000
Which made it easy for developers
Since they were already familiar with the software
The Xbox could have had a very different name
Such as MITH, Microsoft Interactive Theatre
FACE, Full Action Centre
VIP, Virtual Interactive Player
And probably Elon Musk’s favorite name
MARZ or Microsoft Active Reality Zone
Eventually, the name was shortened from DirectX Box to just Xbox
Three years later the machine was showcased by Bill Gates and the Rock
Wait… What??
The Xbox is everything the Rock is
Cutting-edge, powerful, exhilarating
And like the Rock
It will be the most electrifying coming out this year
While the features of the Xbox like
Potential for online play and HD resolution were no doubt impressive
Skeptics viewed the concept as no more than a PC in game console clothing
Regardless, the release date was soon set for the following year
And both gamers and critics alike
Waited with excitement for the launch of this groundbreaking new system
Fun fact; According to, Xbox Co-creator, Seamus Blackley
There was a guy at Microsoft who had fancy markers
Which were immediately stolen by everyone
The only color he had left was the green one
So, he made the designs with that color
Microsoft actually used that green as the iconic Xbox color
Blackley refers to it as, “the green nobody wanted”
In 2001, the Xbox was officially released
Microsoft managed to sell 1 million units in its first 3 weeks
When it was introduced, Microsoft’s machine was competing against
Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s GameCube and Sega’s Dreamcast
While the PS2 would ultimately prevail in terms of sales by a huge margin
The Xbox did end up outselling the GameCube
With estimated sales of 24 million compared to 21.7 million units respectively
The Dreamcast however only managed to sell 9.1 million units
Prior to its launch
Microsoft had acquired a games development company called Bungie
Bungie adapted their Halo franchise into a First Person Shooter
That could take full advantage of Xbox’s impressive specifications
And the rest, as they say, is history
Halo & Halo 2 sold millions of copies
Shattering records and became a classic Xbox exclusive series
As well as a flagship game for the system
Other notable games were Forza Motorsport
Fable
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
And Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Xbox became known as a platform for Western games and first-person-shooters
Which were quite rare back then
The controller that came with the first console was bulky, to say the least
Given the nickname of “The Duke”, because of its hefty size and weight
A slimmer ‘S’ version had to be made for the Japanese market
The S model controller eventually replaced the Duke entirely
To the relief of gamers everywhere
In 2002 Xbox Live was made available
Xbox Live is a subscription-based service
Which made it possible to play online multiplayer games
Microsoft lost money on every Xbox they sold
Due to the high manufacturing costs of $425
While the retail price was only $300
In total Microsoft lost a whopping 4 billion on the original Xbox
However, they succeeded in making a name for their console
In 2005 Microsoft doubled-down on their efforts
And released the Xbox 360
Almost a full year before its competitors came out with the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii
Changing to an all-white appearance
The 360 released at price points of $400 for the Pro version
Which came with a 20 gigabyte hard drive
And $300 for the Core version
Which only had 4 gigabytes of internal flash memory
More models off the 360 were released later
In 2007 came the Elite with a 120 Gigabyte hard drive and a black finish
The Core version was replaced by the Arcade
Both are almost identical
In 2010 came the Xbox 360 S
Which was a slimmer model that also has a Wi-Fi adapter
And lastly, in 2013
Came the E model that was restyled with design traits of the Xbox One
Getting the jump on its rivals certainly paid off for Microsoft
As the 360 sold more than 86 million units
And remains the company’s highest selling games console to date
Updated hardware resulted in better graphics
And a system that was thought to be much easier and more attractive for game developers
Xbox staff worked closely with game development studios
And secured more exclusive titles like the Gears of War franchise
Gamers had access to a wide variety of online and offline hits such as
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Fable II
Forza Motorsport 4
Grand Theft Auto V
And, of course, many Halo games
Such as Halo 3
Halo Reach
And Halo 4
The 360 was a great home entertainment system too
Playing CDs and DVDs while supporting services like Netflix
The user interface, or dashboard
Has undergone many changes throughout the Xbox’s history
With the aim of making the user experience smoother and easier for all
However, it was not always received that way
One aspect of the 360 that Microsoft would rather forget about is
The dreaded ‘red ring of death’
A console-killing issue that plagued Xbox owners
And was signified by a ring of LEDs on the front of the console turning red
And the system doing not much else
It was often caused by overheating
At least Microsoft’s CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer
Had no problem spending over 1 billion dollars to recall the 360
In order to legitimately solve the red ring of death problem
In 2010, the Kinect add-on was launched
Which consisted of a motion-controlled device and microphone
This allowed players to use their bodies and voice to control the action
Instead of using a traditional controller
Games such as Kinect Adventures
Dance Central
And Kinect Sports helped to sell the gadget
In total 24 million units were sold
For those paying attention
You’ll recall that’s as many sales as the original Xbox console
The next Xbox console was released in 2013
It was marketed as an “all-in-one entertainment system” hence the name ‘Xbox One’
Every Xbox One initially would be sold with the new Kinect sensor
It made use of a full HD camera with a wider angle coverage
Improved tracking accuracy, and heart-rate monitoring
The Xbox One with the Kinect sensor came at a high price of $500
Especially next to Sony’s $400 PlayStation 4
The high price plus other drawbacks such as an inability to share or resell games
Privacy issues with the Kinect sensor
And having to always be connected to the internet
Resulted in a terrible launch of the Xbox One
Microsoft did retract and change many of their initial requirements
But for a lot of gamers the damage had already been done
It’s fair to say the Xbox One a shaky start
Though it did recover somewhat
And to date has sold over 47 million units
Ultimately though, it lost ground to Sony, who sold 109 million PS4s
And Nintendo who sold 52 million of their Switches
Microsoft marketed the Xbox One as more of a multimedia device
With owners able to play media from USB devices, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs
As well as being able to capture and stream gameplay footage
The console’s original operating system was based on Windows 8
But the user interface was not well received
It has been updated over the years though
The focus on home entertainment as opposed to just gaming
Has led some to believe that Xbox has fallen behind in terms of the game titles it now offers
Still, it has a number of exciting exclusives
Such as Forza Horizon 4
Gears 5
Sea of Thieves
And Halo 5
More iconic games available to play on the Xbox One include
Red Dead Redemption 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Minecraft
Battlefield 1
And Cuphead
Oh man… This game can be frustrating
The Xbox One controller is refined from the Xbox 360
The D-Pad is improved
The analog sticks are easier to move and have more grip
The X, Y, A and B buttons were moved closer together
And the trigger and bumper buttons were made much wider
It is now also possible to design your own controller with Xbox Design Lab
Multiple models of the Xbox One were released
In 2016 came the smaller Xbox One S
This Xbox can upscale games to 4K resolution and supports High Dynamic Range
Which broadens colors and contrast
The Xbox One X is a high-end model which was released in 2017
It features upgraded hardware which is a lot more powerful
And can play games in 4K resolution
And in 2019 came the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition
It doesn’t have a disk drive and stores everything in the cloud
And finally, scheduled for release at the end of 2020 is the Xbox Series X
At the time of writing, no price has yet been announced
But Xbox appears to be focusing on a high-end product
The new system is claimed to be twice as powerful as the Xbox One X
And will be able to play games in 4K resolution
Has a 1 terabyte SSD
And can render 120 frames per second
It is also backwards compatible allowing to play games from all Xbox consoles
New games coming for the Xbox Series X are Forza Motorsport
Hellblade 2
Dirt 5
Fable
Cyberpunk 2077
And, of course, Halo Infinite
Unfortunately though Microsoft Flight Simulator has not yet been announced for the Xbox Series X
Xbox certainly intends to stay competitive
But surprisingly Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer
Revealed that it isn’t PlayStation and Nintendo whom they see as their main competition for the future
It actually is Google and Amazon
Since the future console wars could be with cloud gaming services
Cloud gaming still seems like it’s in the distant future
So for now let’s just wait in excitement for the next generations of Xbox consoles!