Only number three in the console business

Around the turn of the millennium, three Japanese manufacturers, Sony, Nintendo and Sega, were competing to develop consoles. After a long struggle, the latter finally had to admit defeat, but a new comrade-in-arms was not long in coming. The all-Japanese three-way fight was supplemented by an American participant. And he was no stranger, namely none other than Windows inventor Microsoft. This was encouraged by the success of the Japanese trio to initiate the development of their own console (series) at the end of the 1990s. However, due to the existing Windows operating systems and the DirectX programming interface, it was not difficult for Microsoft to develop a game console based on PC components.

DirectX also gave it its name and contributed the “X”, the “Box” was already the working title and so Microsoft created the Xbox. This name is said to have initially been considered internal, but ultimately became the official name, as has been known to everyone for decades. However, competing against the competition from Sony and Nintendo proved to be extremely difficult, as the Japanese console manufacturers are still extremely successful in what they do. It was therefore extremely difficult for Microsoft to even find a connection. The first console, the Xbox, was finally launched in the USA in November 2001, and then also in Europe a few months later the following year.

The Xbox (2001) – The foundation is laid

When the Xbox was released, it cost 497 euros in Germany. By August 2004, the price was finally reduced to 149 euros and then corresponded to the price of the Playstation 2, which, with Nintendo’s GameCube, represented direct competition to the Xbox. The Xbox was a very voluminous and heavy console, thanks to the built-in power supply, and was able to heat up the competition in terms of hardware. The Xbox had a Pentium 3 processor with 733 MHz and the Geforce 3 GPU “NV2A” with 233 MHz, which could provide a maximum of Full HD graphics. There was also 64 MiB of DDR SRAM.

Xbox with Controller S
Source: PC Games






The “Duke”
Source: Microsoft

The Xbox was also equipped with an Ethernet port so that players could play with and against each other via the online service Xbox Live. Like every console, the Xbox also came with a controller called the “Duke”. However, this was very large, just like the console itself, and so the controller was slimmed down and later delivered as Controller S. This was considered standard for the Japanese version of the Xbox. Nevertheless, the Duke had many fans, so years later the oversized design was also implemented for the Xbox One and Series X/S controllers from Hyperkin.

)*current deviations not excluded

As Microsoft’s debut in the console business, the Xbox was at least able to achieve respectable success by directly beating Nintendo’s GameCube in terms of sales figures. With 24.65 million units, the Xbox surpassed the GameCube in sales by almost three million. But there was no match for the Playstation 2 – but this also applies to every other console. Microsoft introduced its own Halo series exclusively for Xbox. The first part, Halo: Battle for the Future, and Halo 2 were the most successful games for the console. Splinter Cell, Fable, The Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto were also impressive. In 2006, the end of production and delivery for the Xbox was heralded. In spring 2009, Microsoft officially ended support.

Xbox 360 (2005) – The biggest success for Microsoft to date

In November 2005, Microsoft beat Sony to the punch and released its next console, the Xbox 360, a year earlier than the PS3. This was significantly slimmer than its predecessor and came with better hardware. Two consoles were available at the time of release: the Core Edition for $299 and the Premium Edition for $399, which from then on was traded as the “normal” edition of the Xbox 360, came with a 20 GB hard drive and a wireless connection to the controller. Initially, the Xbox 360 only shipped in white and over time the storage space increased to up to 250 GB. On top of that, there was backwards compatibility with the Xbox.

Xbox 360 including packaging and accessories
Source: Microsoft

The Xbox 360 featured a PowerPC tri-core Xenon CPU clocked at 3.2 GHz. A 500 MHz ATI Xenos GPU took care of the graphics. Over the years, Microsoft released two more iterations of the Xbox 360, namely the S and E versions. The Xbox 360 S came in 2010 with a few small changes. These include a dedicated port for the Xbox Kinect camera, a glossy and slimmer design and an integrated WLAN adapter. The Xbox 360 E followed shortly before the release of the Xbox One in 2013 and came with relatively few upgrades. This version of the Xbox 360 is said to have been even lighter and to have small changes to the hardware. Since August 2014, there have also been 500 GB hard drives for the Xbox 360 E.

Subsequent editions of the Xbox 360

“Red Ring of Death”
Source: play3

The console was also iconic for its “Red Ring of Death”, which formed around the power switch when the Xbox 360 faced a total failure due to defective hardware. There were various causes, such as insufficient cooling or problems with the solder connections on the mainboard. Since this phenomenon occurred very frequently on the Xbox 360, Microsoft had to act quickly and ultimately managed to reduce the occurrence of the Red Ring of Death through revisions. As a result, Microsoft offered those affected replacement consoles and extended the warranty period.

*current deviations not excluded

In the end, the Xbox 360 was a complete and biggest success for Microsoft to date and came close to breaking the sales figures of Sony’s Playstation 3, which itself was only getting off to a slow start. In the end it was 85.73 million to 87.4 million units sold. The most successful games on the Xbox 360 were various Call of Duty titles, Grand Theft Auto, Halo 3 and – right at the top – the fitness game Kinect Adventures.