Xbox one

 

 just over a month before the xbox one

was released

the xbox 360 reacheda quiet milestone

80 million units sold microsoft had

spent the previous eight years proving

they were a contender in the console

market

and the 360 was a force to be reckoned

with but when the xbox arrived in

november of 2013

the tide quickly began to turn over the

COurse of the next seven years

microsoft standing in the console race

was in a nearly constant state of flux

die hard fans cutting edge technology

and an unrelenting willingness to

innovate and evolve

would help keep the xbox one afloat but

a lack of first party blockbusters and

the ever looming juggernaut that

was the playstation 4 would make the

eighth generation an uphill battle for

microsoft

[Music]

the xbox 360 was riding high in june of

2011 but the rumor mill was slowly

picking up speed behind closed doors at

e3 that year

crytek was supposedly already hard at

Work on

time splitters 4 using microsoft'srumored next-gen

hardware and rumors said the next xbox

would be revealed at e3

2012. six months later speculation

shifted as

chip manufacturers middleware firms

and

industry insiders

began sparking rumors of an e3 2013

reveal

followed by a release that fall rumors

swirling around lion head studios fable

next

and epic's unreal engine 4 helped lend

Some credibility

but microsoft still wasn't ready to talk

about the next generation of xbox

hardware

in april ign wrote a very short and

unassuming article about the xbox one

potentially requiring a constant

internet connection

on february 20th of 2013 sony

announced

the playstation 4.

after nearly a year of mostly radio

silence

april of 2013 would prove to be one of

the most tumultuous months in

xbox history leaks showed that the next

xbox would be

always online always connected and that

gamesinstalled to the xbox one then

codenamed

durangos hard drive

would be interrupted or suspended

without an

internet connection fans were pissed

it limited options on how gamers could

play games they owned

it also seemed like a direct attack on

the people who relied on used games

to make matters worse microsoft's then

creative director adam orth

took to twitter to air his grievances

with fans complaining about an

always online future it was a short

misguided rant that ended with orth

using an image of a smirking president

obama and the words

deal with it it did not go over well

prompting orth's departure from

microsoft the following week

on may 21 2013 weeks before e3

microsoft

unveiled the xbox one to the public

introduced as an al-in-one system for

games entertainment and television

the xbox one boasted powerful hardware

and a holiday 2013 release date

the reveal was confusing the newest

version of connect which would be

required to use the xbox one took center

stage

and audiences were told that it would beof the xbox one would utilize a low

powered connected state

allowing the console to perform

background tasks like updates

additionally users would also be able to

trade in used games and the kinect would

allow users full control of what

information it was given access to

and what it did with that information

the answers werent exactly

ideal but at least gamers had a better

understanding of what to expect

e3 2013 was a historically bad showing

for microsoft

and the xbox one in its morning

showcase

it announced that the console

would retail for 499 dollars that

afternoon

sony announced that its playstation 4

would cost

100 less now in an interview with qiant

bomb microsoft walked back their

always

online policy

ensuring that disc based gamers need

not worry about 24-hour check-ins now tomake matters worse

instep don matric then president of

interactive entertainment at microsoft

to further clarify some of microsoft's

announcements

now during a pre-e3 press briefing with

game trailers

metric addressed concerns about the

one's connectivity requirements

infamously stating fortunately we have a

product for people who aren't able to

get

some form of connectivity it's called

xbox 360. and then he compared gamers

without internet access to people living

on submarines which

apparently he read in some blog

Somewhere matrix left microsoft for

zynga

20 days later in august microsoft

dropped the connect requirements from

the xboX one

announced the indie focus id at xbox

initiative which is still going strong

to this day

nndnnaun fahla laaondannaand announced fable legends a game

that

was eventually

canceled in 2016. ahead of xbox one's

launch microsoft issued a statement

saying that

connect data would not be used to

identify users but

that voice chat may be monitored to the

extent permitted by

law however in 2019 microsoft

contractors came forward to say that the

Connect

was indeed used to listen to users voice

commands in order to integrate

that particular data into microsoft's

cortana ai though these instances were

low and cortana was removed eventually

from the xbox homepage on november

22nd

2013 the xbox one launched in

21 territories with titles like dead

rising 3 forza motorsport 5

rise son of rome assassin's creed 4

black flag

and call of duty ghosts the xbox one

sold1 million units in 24 hours and over 2

million

in its first 18 days on the market

the first six months of the xbox one

went slowly

in early 2014 microsoft bought the

rights to the gears of war

franchise and named black tusk

eventually the coalition

its new developers titanfall was the

first hit

xbox one exclusive in march but it

wasn't until the end of the console's

first

full quarter on the market that things

started to change

in a move that would be looked upon as

one of microsoft's smartest decisions

phil spencer was named head of xbox .