Xbox (brand)

Xbox is a popular, multigenerational video game console brand produced by computer software giant Microsoft. When the original Xbox was released in late 2001, its debut marked Microsoft's first foray into the video game console market. With more than one million consoles sold in just the first three weeks after it initially hit store shelves in North America, the Xbox was an instant hit. The long-term viability of the Xbox brand was confirmed a year later with the overwhelmingly successful launch of the Xbox Live online gaming network. In the years that followed, Microsoft maintained its place on the cutting edge of the video game console market, continuing to develop and integrate new technological advancements as it introduced the Xbox 360 in 2005 and the Xbox One in 2013. Along with Sony's PlayStation family of products, Xbox remains one of the leading brand names in the video game industry.

Brief History

The Xbox console was the brainchild of Microsoft engineers Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Otto Berkes, and Ted Hase. Previously, the four had worked together in the development of DirectX, a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that Microsoft introduced in 1995 to encourage video game developers to embrace its Windows operating system. Although the arrival of DirectX did help Microsoft win the confidence of developers, it also pushed the company toward entering the video game market itself. In 1998, Bachus, Blackley, Berkes, and Hase approached Microsoft founder Bill Gates with the suggestion that the company should develop its own video game console. Specifically, they pitched what they called the "DirectX Box," a console built like a personal computer that would run on Windows 2000, connect to the Internet, and feature twice the processing power of the then popular PlayStation 2 or any other comparable platform. With Gates's approval, the DirectX Box project was under way.

When the Xbox, as the console was later redubbed, made its official North American debut on November 14, 2001, it was an immediate hit. In just the first three weeks that the Xbox was available, more than one million units were sold. Part of the reason for the console's early success was the widespread popularity of Halo, a critically acclaimed first-person shooter game that was exclusive to Xbox. In November of 2002, Microsoft solidified its place in the video game industry with the introduction of Xbox Live, an online gaming network that was popular with gamers and had more than 150,000 users within a week of its launch.

With an eye on maintaining its strong share of the video game marketplace, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in November of 2005. The second-generation console of the Xbox series, the Xbox 360 was an upgraded version of its predecessor that placed increased focus on online gaming through Xbox Live. Xbox One, the Xbox brand's third-generation console, debuted in 2013. Like the previous model, the Xbox One included strong support for online gaming but also featured streaming television capabilities, voice commands, and a Blu-ray drive. In 2016, Microsoft released the Xbox One S, a slimmer version of the Xbox One that introduced 4K ultra high-definition capabilities and other upgrades to the original console.

Impact

The Xbox brand had a transformative effect on the video game industry from the time of the original Xbox console's release. At the time, the most notable video game consoles on the market were Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 and Sega's struggling Dreamcast. When the Xbox arrived on the scene, its graphical capabilities and popular exclusive titles set new industry standards. However, the main thrust of the original Xbox's impact on the video game world was the launch of the Xbox Live online gaming network. While there were other consoles on the market that already supported online gaming, Xbox Live's user-friendly interfaces and powerful servers popularized the practice to a previously unheard of degree. In light of the Xbox's success in this realm, other video game console manufacturers began launching services that could compete with Xbox Live. In short, online gaming became a major element in the evolution of the video game industry.

Although the impact of the Xbox brand on the video game industry is largely a result of its triumphs, some of its failures have also been influential. The original Xbox, while a major hit in North America, experienced much slower sales in Japan and other foreign markets. This was mainly a result of Japanese consumers' distaste for gaming consoles as large and unwieldly as the Xbox. In response to Japan's lukewarm reception of the original Xbox, Microsoft made smaller, sleeker designs a key feature of its later consoles, including the Xbox 360. Along with its slimmer design, the initial success of the Xbox 360 was due in part to the speed with which it was developed and the fact that it beat the PlayStation 3 to the marketplace. While Microsoft's effort to get the advanced Xbox 360 on store shelves as quickly as possible paid off in the short run, it ultimately resulted in serious technical problems with the console. Issues with the Xbox 360's hardware design led to widespread catastrophic system failures that forced Microsoft to repair or replace a large number of consoles that were rendered unusable. From these challenges, Microsoft and other console manufacturers learned valuable lessons about modern video game systems that they incorporated into their future products.

Beyond the brand's broader successes and failures, the Xbox's impact on modern video gaming was also fueled by Microsoft's determination to stay on the cutting edge of the industry's development. For instance, after the success of the Nintendo Wii, which introduced the concept of motion detection video game play, Microsoft developed the Xbox Kinect. The Xbox Kinect was a special motion- and voice-sensing peripheral device that allowed users to play certain games without the use of a traditional controller. Although it debuted at roughly the same time as a similar competitor device called the PlayStation Move, the Xbox Kinect helped take the video game industry in a completely new direction. The same can be said for the Xbox One, which, along with the PlayStation 4, made possible the video game console's evolution into an all-in-one entertainment device through which users could play games, stream live television and on-demand video services like Netflix, and watch DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Bibliography

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Griffith, Eric. "The Story Behind the Box." PC Mag, 21 Nov. 2013, www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427357,00.asp. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

Marshall, Rick. "The History of the Xbox." Digital Trends, 12 May 2013, www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-the-xbox/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

Pino, Nick. "Xbox One Review." TechRadar, 31 Aug. 2016, www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/games-consoles/xbox-one-1153153/review. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

Warren, Tom. "Xbox One: A Next-Gen Console with a Focus on Interactive TV and Apps." The Verge, 21 May 2013, www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350918/xbox-one-microsoft-unveils-its-next-generation-console. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

Webster, Andrew. "Microsoft Announces the Xbox One S, Its Smallest Xbox Yet." The Verge, 13 June 2016, www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11911184/microsoft-xbox-one-s-announced-price-specs-e3-2016. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

White, Christopher. "This History of Xbox as Told by the Leaders of the Company." Neowin, 3 July 2015, www.neowin.net/news/the-history-of-xbox-as-told-by-the-leaders-of-the-company. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

Yoshimura, Andrew. "Your Turn: A Brief History of Microsoft and the Xbox." Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Nov. 2013, www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/blog/screenplay/your-turn-a-brief-history-of-microsoft-and-the-xbox-20131112-2xeyx.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.