A look back at the Original Xbox tech demo - Raven Two To Tango

Brand new console to the market. They had to build a brand from scratch.
A fair point, but most of it has to do with the same half-assed approach that has plagued the division from its conception. There was no reason that they could have only managed to sell 11M-14M units more than the Sega Master System on a WAAAAAAY bigger and more mature market.
Xbox 360 was the first Xbox for most of the world.
 
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This was the only time I felt the Xbox was actually a legit terrific system. They did so much for consoles that me as a PC gamer started paying attention. Then they butchered it with the 360. Terrific games but a POS launch console. I quit caring after a year in, my 4th console was going back to Microsoft.

OG Xbox though was magical.
 
A fair point, but most of it has to do with the same half-assed approach that has plagued the division from its conception. There was no reason that they could have only managed to sell 11M-14M units more than the Sega Master System on a WAAAAAAY bigger and more mature market.
Xbox 360 was the first Xbox for most of the world.
True, but I think their strategy was to focus on the US and UK markets first, which I don't think was a mistake. The mistake was not ever setting up a true European or SE Asian division, after the success they found in the US.

The Xbox division has always needed more resources and expertise. Maybe someone could have caught the RROD problem before the 360 shipped, if they had more eyes from around the world on the project.
 
I'm saying on my behalf.
The Xbox is still in good shape, even today. 👍
Phil Spencer Xbox GIF by Kinda Funny


Stop It Michael Jordan GIF
 
Nah, it was as bad.
Xbox sales from July 2002 to June 2003: 6M units
PS2 sales from July 2002 to June 2003: 20M units

From a UK perspective missing Christmas 2001 don't help Xbox, same with Gamecube

PS2 had the market to itself that winter with big hits like GTA III, Gran Tusimo 3, Jak & Daxter, Silent Hill 3, Devil May Cry and Pro Evolution Soccer.
 
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True, but I think their strategy was to focus on the US and UK markets first, which I don't think was a mistake. The mistake was not ever setting up a true European or SE Asian division, after the success they found in the US.

The Xbox division has always needed more resources and expertise. Maybe someone could have caught the RROD problem before the 360 shipped, if they had more eyes from around the world on the project.
I disagree, if SCE could nail its focus on several regional markets in 1993-1996, this just speaks to MS' sheer incompetence for looking outside of the anglosphere. It's Microsoft we're talking about, one of (if not) the biggest brand in the world, what was the gain on that half-assed sales and marketing approach when they can afford the spending required?
I often see people asking why Xbox never took off if consoles are third-party driven, and I will always say that sales and marketing operations for Xbox just plain suck.
 
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From a UK perspective missing Christmas 2001 don't help Xbox, same with Gamecube

PS2 had the market to itself that winter with big hits like GTA III, Gran Tusimo 3, Jak & Daxter, Silent Hill 3, Devil May Cry and Pro Evolution Soccer.
I disagree, from a UK perspective only PlayStation had any credibility with the wider market - as it is today. The N64's U rated setup was fine in its own gamer niche that carried over to the Cube but wasn't doing mainstream mindshare and Xbox was new and could have done well if it had captured gamer mindshare - because it was heavily subsidized hardware given it came with a mechanical HDD and 64MBs of RAM and a network card - but it didn't.

IMO UK core gamers at large rejected the Xbox because of the company behind it and their possible intentions, the massive crab gen 1 pad and the big heavy VCR hardware box like it was still just a PC compared unfavourably to the market leader, and Xbox wasn't bringing anything beyond what PC could already do even after buying Bungie, Lionhead and Rare- while charging for traditionally free online play.

The UK console market was still very much sports titles, fighting and racing games in the pre-online-MP era IMO, and with FIFA/Pro Evo and Madden de facto carry over from PS1 to PS2, same with Tekken 2/3 and Ridge Racer/Toca/Mcrae rally, Xbox could only really say me-too, but with so much else missing for what mattered to core UK gamers, and any core gamer I knew with one had modded it for SNES emulation and media playback with what is now KODI

I know more non-gamers that bought an OG Xbox, late - because they were price sensitive - than actual IRL GAF level gamers that bought them .
 
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Anyone saying Microsoft didn't give Sony all they could handle between Halo2 release and the Modern Warfare II launch window either wasn't there or is just doing pure revisionist history.
 
BTW, it's kinda hilarious to see the Xbox 360 being touted as the era of team Xbox doing everything right, when it's quite literally the console with the highest failure rate ever made, that costed billions to Microsoft.
Xbox-division-has-1-9-billion-loss-blame-red-rings.png

And the worst part is that they were being outsold by Sony with the PS3 globally since 2007, when that was already a sales and marketing disaster on its own.
 
BTW, it's kinda hilarious to see the Xbox 360 being touted as the era of team Xbox doing everything right, when it's quite literally the console with the highest failure rate ever made, that costed billions to Microsoft.
Xbox-division-has-1-9-billion-loss-blame-red-rings.png

And the worst part is that they were being outsold by Sony with the PS3 globally since 2007, when that was already a sales and marketing disaster on its own.

They did many things right. So many in fact that most friends bought a 360 and just ignored the PS3 outright despite having both PS1 and 2 previously. Sure, red ring of light sucked.

And PS3 and 360 sold pretty much the same numbers in total. No need to disregard 360's history and achievements despite the Xbox of today performing badly.
 
What are y'all doing?

How did this thread become about DEI , wide chins & RROD? 😭
No different to whenever Sony announce a game from their internal studios (recent ones being Ghost of Yotei and Intergalactic)
Annoying isn't it?

(also, this is faker than a very fake thing that has been faked)
 
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it can't be understated how much of a GPU monster the Xbox was compared to the other Gen6 consoles. it might not have had all the customisation that gave the PS2 some unique advantages, but the raw power of it delivered some of the most impressive games at the time. stuff that often looked like a full generation ahead.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory being a great comparison point. that game's PS2 version had to be adjusted to a degree comparable to the adjustments that were needed in the last gen versions of Hogwarts Legacy to make it run on PS4 and Xbox One.
today those 2 versions would literally be comparable to a generational difference.
 
BTW, it's kinda hilarious to see the Xbox 360 being touted as the era of team Xbox doing everything right, when it's quite literally the console with the highest failure rate ever made, that costed billions to Microsoft.
Xbox-division-has-1-9-billion-loss-blame-red-rings.png

And the worst part is that they were being outsold by Sony with the PS3 globally since 2007, when that was already a sales and marketing disaster on its own.

a console so much better than the PS3 that people stuck with it DESPITE the immensely high failure rate.
also the PS3 had the second highest failure rate of any console lol, it just died slower... but basically any backwards compatible PS3 is a ticking timebomb just like the original 360 model
 
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They did many things right. So many in fact that most friends bought a 360 and just ignored the PS3 outright despite having both PS1 and 2 previously. Sure, red ring of light sucked.

And PS3 and 360 sold pretty much the same numbers in total. No need to disregard 360's history and achievements despite the Xbox of today performing badly.
a console so much better than the PS3 that people stuck with it DESPITE the immensely high failure rate.
also the PS3 had the second highest failure rate of any console lol, it just died slower... but basically any backwards compatible PS3 is a ticking timebomb just like the original 360 model
I mean, they did certainly right in NA and the UK, which is were the bulk of sales came from, but it certainly doesn't make much sense that they only managed to be neck and neck with a console that was a PR disaster from left to right. Compare the consoles' sales and you will see:
2005:

Xbox 360: 1,5M unit sales (November 22, 2005)

2006:

PS3: 1,7M unit sales (November 11, 2006)
Xbox 360: 8,9M unit sales

2007:

PS3: 8,7M unit sales
Xbox 360: 7,3M unit sales

2008:

PS3: 10,7M unit sales
Xbox 360: 10,8M unit sales

2009:

PS3: 12,4M unit sales
Xbox 360: 10,2M unit sales

2010:

PS3: 14,4M unit sales
Xbox 360: 12,1M unit sales

2011:

PS3: 14,1M unit sales
Xbox 360: 14,9M unit sales

2012:

PS3: 11,8M unit sales
Xbox 360: 10,1M unit sales

2013:

PS3: 7,6M unit sales
Xbox 360: 7M unit sales
Both consoles had similar sales between their respective launch window + first year periods of 14 months (10,4M unit sales), while PS3 had a better respective launch quarter, despite missing the EU market. PS3 then went on to outsell the Xbox 360 in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, while the Xbox 360 only managed to outsell the PS3 in 2008 (by 100K unit sales) and 2011, which was the peak CY of the console at 14,9M unit sales, thanks to the Kinect boom.
I often see people claiming that Microsoft managed to take advantage of Sony's fuck-ups, but nah, I don't really see it; at least not on a global scale. Isn't it quite sad that the Xbox 360 only managed to overcome its undeniable decline on the market and get to new heights thanks to riding the casual wave generated by the Wii, you know, the period where people usually say that Xbox lost its direction?
 
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Nah, it was as bad.
Xbox sales from July 2002 to June 2003: 6M units
PS2 sales from July 2002 to June 2003: 20M units
I'd say that is pretty decent when you consider Xbox was new to the game while Sony already had created a great legacy with PS1.
 
Man, even that Demo was fake. they released another one a few months after that actually represented the Xbox's power back then.


A company full of nothing but lies.
 
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