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. With the release of its fourth-generation consoles,
the Xbox Series X and S, 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 to 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?? "That's fascinating. That's fascinating. Yeah, i might wanna use that sometime, Bill." While the features of the Xbox, like the 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 everyone immediately stole. The only color he had left was green,
so he made the designs in 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 three weeks. When it was introduced, Microsoft’s machine
competed 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. It received the nickname “The Duke” because
of its hefty size and weight. The controller featured many aspects of the latest trends in gaming, including two analog sticks, six action buttons, a D-Pad, two
analog triggers, a back and start button, and it had vibration. The Duke was a disaster. In fact, Seamus Blackley showcased the controller
during a big unveiling, and he said quote, Japan was an incredibly important market for gaming, and Blackley went there to meet a famous
Japanese game designer. The game designer told Blackley harshly that Xbox didn’t know
how to make a console, and it was all based on the controller. Blackley said quote, Xbox knew they had to find a solution for the Japanese market,
so they made a slimmer “S” version of the controller. It was generally more comfortable to use than the original. To the relief of gamers everywhere, the S model
controller eventually replaced the Duke entirely. The controller S laid the groundwork for all future Xbox controllers. As big as online gaming is nowadays, back in 2001,
it was still in its infancy. Xbox decided that online gaming was designated as
one of the key pillars of their strategy. While Sega had made an attempt with the Dreamcast to capitalize
on the ever-growing online gaming scene, it wasn’t a success. Microsoft hoped that the Xbox would succeed
where the Dreamcast had failed. So, in 2002 Xbox Live was made available as a subscription-based
service that makes it possible to play online multiplayer games. In July 2004, Xbox Live reached 1 million online users. 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. Fun Fact The original Xbox startup is rendered in real-time
instead of being a pre-rendered video. Interestingly, the boot sequence will never form
the neon green blob the same twice. 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 was
released at price points of $399 for the Pro version, which came with a 20-gigabyte hard drive,
and $299 for the Core version, which only had 4 gigabytes of internal flash memory. More models of 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, a slimmer
model with 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 Xbox 360 came with a redesigned controller. It added fundamental changes, such as turning the Xbox’s
black and white buttons into additional shoulder buttons, and it added a new audio plug-in for headsets. The 360 controller came in both wired and wireless variants. The real game-changer was the guide button
placed in the center of the device. It had 4 LED lights around the 360 logo that would show
the number of controllers connected to the Xbox, but it would also flash when the batteries would begin to run low. The guide button itself was tied to the next-gen experience of
the 360, allowing players to quickly go to the console's hub. The 360 controller was regarded as one of
the best controllers out there; many preferred it over the PlayStation 3’s controller. The 360 was also a great home entertainment system,
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. Did you know that these issues caused the Xbox 360 to have
a failure rate of almost 24% during its first year on the market? At least Microsoft’s CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, had no problem spending over 1 billion dollars to recall
the 360 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! Fun Fact On April 14, 2010, Microsoft officially discontinued
Xbox Live support for the original Xbox games. However, players who were still playing after
midnight were left to play until they signed out. A group of 14 players kept playing Halo 2 online to defend the honor of hundreds of Halo 2 fans
who would still love to play multiplayer. They became known as the “Noble 14.” The final player, “Apache N4SIR,”
stayed online for almost a month. Bungie thought it was honorable and gave them
Beta passes to Halo Reach. Microsoft also extended their Xbox Live memberships. 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 would initially 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 $499, especially next to Sony’s $399 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 many gamers, the damage had already been done. It’s fair to say the Xbox One had a shaky start, though it did
recover somewhat and has sold over 47 million units to date. 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: Guardians. More iconic games available to play
on the Xbox One include Red Dead Redemption 2, Minecraft, Battlefield 1, and Cuphead. “Oh, man! This game can be frustrating!” To improve the Xbox One controller,
Microsoft spent a whopping $100 million! The D-Pad was improved, the analog sticks
were easier to move and had more grip, the X, Y, A, and B buttons were moved closer together, and the trigger and bumper buttons were made much wider. It also included haptic feedback for the triggers, adding more of a kick when playing games
from the shooter and racing genres. The device also included access to more features
that allowed players to capture images, record gameplay on their console, and let players
share that content with friends online. Numerous special controllers were released. In 2015 came the Xbox One Elite Wireless controller, which was marketed as a premium device for the “elite gamer.” It featured a steel construction with a soft-touch
plastic exterior, along with rear paddle buttons, “hair trigger locks,” which activate the buttons with the slightest touch, swappable components, and you could fully customize
all buttons, triggers, and analog sticks sensitivity. In 2016, the standard controller was upgraded
when the Xbox One S was released. While mostly similar to its predecessor, the Xbox One S
controller added Bluetooth connectivity, allowing it to sync up with additional devices
and with Windows-based PCs. Players could also customize the controller’s
design with Xbox Design Lab. Allowing them to choose from a wide range of color combinations,
adding metallic finishes and rubberized grips. In addition to the controller being upgraded
the consoles also saw an upgrade. The Xbox One S can upscale games to 4K resolution
and supports High Dynamic Range, which broadens colors and contrast. In 2018, Microsoft released a very unique controller,
the Xbox Adaptive Controller. It was designed for people with disabilities. With a standard D-pad and face buttons, the centerpiece of the Adaptive Controller has two massive
buttons that could function for whatever the player wanted. Shortly after its release, Time Magazine named the Adaptive
Controller one of the best technological innovations of the year. One year later, Microsoft made the Xbox
Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. It added more ways to customize the device and lets users alter
the tension and pressure for each analog stick. Besides the standard Xbox One and Xbox One S,
the Xbox One X came in 2017. It was a high-end model that featured upgraded hardware that was
much more powerful and could 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. Fun Fact Microsoft is a behemoth in the gaming industry. In 2014, Mojang was purchased for a whopping $2.5 billion! This was Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date, adding
the hugely successful game Minecraft to their library. In 2018, Microsoft continued their
gaming empire by acquiring six studios, the most notable being: Ninja Theory,
maker of the Hellblade series, Obsidian Entertainment,
the developers of The Outer World and the highly anticipated game Avowed that
has yet to be released while making this video And Playground Games, which
is the creator of the Forza Horizon series. In 2021, Microsoft bought Bethesda and
its subsidiaries for a massive $7.5 billion! This means Microsoft now owns major franchises like Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, and Dishonoured. As if that wasn’t enough already, Microsoft plans to spend an
enormous 68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. If the deal continues, Microsoft will own Call of Duty,
Diablo, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. Diablo, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. As well as previous PlayStation exclusives
Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. This could be a massive opportunity for Microsoft
to grow its Xbox Game Pass library. Speaking of which, the Xbox Game Pass is
a video game subscription service that allows players to play games on the Xbox One,
the latest-generation Xbox Series X and S, PC, but also on mobile phones, tablets, and
Samsung smart TVs via Xbox Cloud Gaming. It is basically like Netflix, but for video games. Phil Spencer has stated that Microsoft’s intent with the
Xbox Game Pass is to make it available across many devices, including those of their competitors. Spencer stated, There are now hundreds of games available on
Xbox Game Pass, and new games are added all the time. With the arrival of the Game Pass, multiple
special controllers were released. For instance, Xbox released a new controller in partnership
with Razer in August 2020, the Razer Kishi. This innovative controller can be attached to
your smartphone and turns it into a gaming device. Besides the Razi Kishi, there is also the GameSir X3 Type-C, the MOGA XP5-X Plus Controller,
and the MOGA XP7-X Plus Controller. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced that
Game Pass had surpassed 25 million subscribers. Scheduled for release at the end of 2020 was the Xbox Series X. In the lead-up to its launch, it was clear that Xbox
appeared to be focusing on a high-end product. Upon its release, Microsoft announced the retail price
of the Xbox X to be $499 in the US, and demand for the console was incredibly high. The Series X unit is about 60% bigger in volume than
the Series S, which was released at the same time its small size being due to Microsoft designing the
Series S to be easily portable for travel usage. The Xbox Series X launched in a matte black case
along with a controller in a matching color, distinguishing it from the matte white that the Xbox Series S uses. The new controller is aimed to be more ergonomic
to fit a larger range of hand sizes. The D-pad was also improved by merging the
standard Xbox One controller D-pad with the Elite to accommodate a range of playstyles. There is also a "share" button in the center of the controller's face, which lets you create screenshots and video clips more easily. It also adds USB-C for faster charging, but other than that,
it is similar to the Xbox One controller. As such, there is no learning curve and no period of re-adjustment. The Xbox Series X was claimed to be
twice as powerful as the Xbox One X and has the ability to play games in 4K resolution, has a 1 terabyte SSD, and can render 120 frames per second. With this amazing resolution, gamers with 4K televisions
who want to play games at the highest quality will benefit from the extra power of the Xbox Series X. It is also backwards compatible, allowing you
to play games from all Xbox consoles. With support for higher display resolutions,
up to 8K high dynamic range, and Xbox Velocity Architecture, the Xbox Series X
was touted as the fastest, most powerful Xbox ever. According to Xbox, with its “AMD’s Zen 2
and RDNA 2 architectures, DirectX ray tracing delivers true-to-life lighting, shadows,
and accurate reflections to create dynamic, living worlds.” This no doubt created a better and more immersive
experience for gamers and Xbox lovers everywhere. New games for the Xbox Series X were Forza Horizon 5, Elden Ring, Hellblade 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and, of course, Halo Infinite. Additionally, Microsoft Flight Simulator also
became available for the Xbox Series X, showcasing the Series X’s unparalleled load-times,
enhanced visuals, and stabler framerates, receiving universal acclaim from critics and having
over one million users within weeks of its launch. And finally, with its release in November 2020, the Xbox Series S was also part of the fourth
generation of the Xbox console family along with the Xbox Series X, both following the Xbox One. The consoles were launched initially in the US
before moving to global markets. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S,
alongside Sony's PlayStation 5, which was also released in late 2020, are part of
the ninth generation of video game consoles, all coming with substantial performance upgrades. While the Xbox Series X is arguably the better console
due to its more powerful specifications, the Xbox Series S is an excellent compact console. It's also markedly cheaper; upon the release of the
Xbox Series S, it was priced at a lesser $299 in the US, making it far more affordable than the Xbox Series X for those
with a smaller games console budget. The Xbox Series S was also easier for many to purchase due to restocking issues messing with the availability
of the Xbox Series X long after its initial release. In terms of hardware, the Xbox Series S is comparable
to the Xbox Series X but has less processing power. While the Series S runs with the same CPU, it uses a slower GPU, uses 10GB of RAM compared to the Series X’s 16GB,
and has a 512GB SSD. The console has the ability to play games in 1440p resolution, with support for 4K upscale, and
can render 60 frames per second, although it can go as high as 120 frames per second. Aside from these differences, the console has
the same functions as the Xbox Series X, including ports and game support. It is also capable of playing many of the same
games available to the Xbox Series X, with numerous features being identical, only at a lesser resolution
and frame rate and debatably a lesser gaming experience. While impressive for its specifications and price, there are certain games that are arguably
better played on the Xbox Series X, which supports 120 FPS and ray-tracing, such as Battlefield V and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The Xbox Series S is compatible with users’ Xbox One
gaming accessories and brings a faster response time. It is also backwards compatible with thousands
of Original Xbox, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 games. As of Summer 2022, a number of upcoming games have been announced to be
compatible with both the Xbox Series X and Series S. These include Saints Row, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Fable, The Elder Scrolls VI, Sonic Frontiers, Diablo 4, Minecraft Legends, alongside Starfield, which will be made exclusive to the Xbox X/S Series in 2023. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have both
strengthened their positions over the last year, and in July 2022, total sales were estimated to have
reached over 15 million units across the globe. 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 is actually 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!
