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[Alan Wake]

So I was sitting there in my old apartment, connected via my Xbox 360 and waiting for the showcase to start. The reveal of the next generation Xbox was about to happen and after an amazing generation I was definitely hyped! And then we got... Xbox One.

The reveal was a disaster. They talked mostly about the new Xbox One as an entertainment hub in our living rooms and very little about games. They showed how we with the Kinect could swap between games and TV. Like anyone would want that. Who asked for this? With Snowden leaking the NSA documents on mass surveillance it was also terrible timing to have a big corporate spy camera in your living room.

I remember I was put off by the console's design alone, and felt completely empty after the Xbox Reveal (which was NOT at E3, although some seems to remember it was). The focus was clearly not games, and even though they did show some games at E3 three weeks later the messaging was terrible and confusing.

After being an Xbox gamer since the day the first Xbox launched in Europe in 2002, I pre-ordered a PS4 and it wasn't until 2015 I bought an Xbox One without the Kinect. I was all in boycott mode for two years. Funny thing is the Xbox One still ended up being my primary platform that gen. Rise of the Tomb Raider (a one year console exclusive) lured me back in and when Microsoft started making changes I sort of forgave them. They launched the One S, backcompat, Game Pass, One X. Good things happened after all.

But on the exclusive games department they never recovered. And honestly, they still haven't. It's been ten years of disappointments and still I'm here with an Xbox Series X (and a PS5 of course), waiting for more games.

How do you remember the Xbox One reveal in May 2013? Did you jump ship or did you stick with Xbox? Did you change your mind after a while like I did?

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I didn't care as much. Was hyped af for KI and Titanfall, and they didn't disappoint. Spent tons of hours with these two games alone. The rest that followed, however..

 

[Fredrik]

I remember the launch clearly because it didn’t launch in my country until a year later.

 

[Stare-Bear]

I started lurking Neogaf on this day!

A lot of people will say that this was the beginning of the end for Xbox but I say that started years before. Kinect dominated Microsoft’s E3 presentation for years at this point.

A lot of people love to shit on Mattrick for the launch, but Phil Spencer was head of game studios at this time and didn’t have killer software ready to go at launch. If they had a “Wii Sports” type of game included for free, that showed off the capabilities of the Kinect, they might have had a better start.

Microsoft dropping Kinect not even a year after launch just said to the gamer, don’t buy into our system because we are ready to drop features without even trying to sell them on you.

 

[E-Cat]

Don Mattrick’s crown jewel *chef’s kiss*

 

[kikkis]

"Give me the xbox" Ballmer/ironman gif.

 

[DonJimbo]

MATTRICK: "Some of the advantages that you get, of having, a box that is designed to use an online state, so, that, uh, to me is the future-proof choice, and I think people, could've arguably gone the other way if we didn't do it and fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360."

KEIGHLEY: "Right, so stick with 360, that's your message if you don't [inaudible] like it?"

MATTRICK: "Well, if you have zero access to the internet, that is an offline device, I mean, seriously, when I read the blogs, and thought about who's really the most impacted, there was a person who said 'hey, I'm on a nuclear sub,' and I don't even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub but I've gotta imagine it's not easy to get an internet connection."

KEIGHLEY: "[inaudible] playing call of duty multiplayer"

MATTRICK: "Hey, I can empathize, if I was on a nuclear sub, I'd be disappointed."

 

[Alan Wake]

I remember the launch clearly because it didn’t launch in my country until a year later.

Yep, that certainly sucked. It was still available to buy, though.

 

[nial]

A disaster, the beginning of the end. Great console third-party wise, but first-party wise? Pretty, pretty bad, and the Xbox Series feels a lot worse now. The Wii U was better than both.

 

[Rentahamster]

That was the reason I didn't buy another MS console until 2022.

 

[Alan Wake]

I started lurking Neogaf on this day!

A lot of people will say that this was the beginning of the end for Xbox but I say that started years before. Kinect dominated Microsoft’s E3 presentation for years at this point.

A lot of people love to shit on Mattrick for the launch, but Phil Spencer was head of game studios at this time and didn’t have killer software ready to go at launch. If they had a “Wii Sports” type of game included for free, that showed off the capabilities of the Kinect, they might have had a better start.

Microsoft dropping Kinect not even a year after launch just said to the gamer, don’t buy into our system because we are ready to drop features without even trying to sell them on you.

I think this is an important point. Mattrick gets all the hate for the failure, and obviously he deserves blame for the route they chose. But the lack of games is not all his fault. Spencer's definitely responsible here. The launch lineup was fine, though, better than PS4's I'd say. After 2015 it dried up quickly and the PS4 became a juggernaut. Xbox still haven't recovered.

 

[Alan Wake]

A disaster, the beginning of the end. Great console third-party wise, but first-party wise? Pretty, pretty bad, and the Xbox Series feels a lot worse now. The Wii U was better than both.

The Wii U was piece of crap as a console, so dumb. But it did have some great games, many of which they ported to the Switch eventually. Nintendo released some gems on it. We gotta remember the game droughts it went through, though, because barely anyone else supported it.

 

[Damigos]

A day to remember

 

[Sweden85]

Well Tier 2 country in the eyes of MSoft.
Xbox360 was my main console, but since MSoft dubbed us as a tier 2 country, I said f-off.

 

[JimmyRustler]

The disastrous presentation didn’t surprise me one bit. Xbox had fallen from the grace long before that.

What an amazing console the 360 was, despite all the shitty hardware. To this day it remains the only consoleI bought 3 times. Sadly it all went downhill with Mattrick and Kinect. Pretty wild that Xbox still hasn recovered. I think that if they’d have continued their course from early 360 days the console market would look quite different today.

 

[Alan Wake]

Well Tier 2 country in the eyes of MSoft.
Xbox360 was my main console, but since MSoft dubbed us as a tier 2 country, I said f-off.

Hey, we did get the Xbox Series X on day one! With no games, sadly.

 

[nial]

We gotta remember the game droughts it went through, though, because barely anyone else supported it.

People mention this, but were they that extreme? The Wii U had your pretty average Nintendo droughts that also happen frequently with the Switch.

 

[Fredrik]

Yep, that certainly sucked. It was still available to buy, though.

Well I guess I could’ve imported it, but I didn’t. For me it launched late 2014, when I had already had PS4 for a year and had built a games library, that plus the weaker power made XB1 my secondary choice by default.
I went with XB1X later though and skipped the PS4 Pro, so MS kinda repaired some bad early gen decisions there, it was powerful and silent, I liked it a lot. And when Gamepass arrived through pocket money deals I was fully aboard again.

 

[DonJimbo]

A day to remember

 

[Disco Dave]

The best thing about the Xbox One reveal was the react content on YouTube which gave them one of the most beautiful little roastings I've ever seen. I still watch some of the meltdowns every now and again.

The memes that this reveal generated were just...

 

[funkygunther]

Streaming TV is the future.

 

[BadBurger]

E3 2013 was wild, I remember it vividly - particularly the bizarre Microsoft presentations about cable TV and such and Sony dunking on them from the foul line over always-online DRM and the like.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

As a kid, I didn't believe that the 360 had any chance to beat the PS3. Because back then I was thinking that all games would be exclusive to Playstation like they were to the PS2. How dumb I was... The 360 proved that Xbox could be good for gamers and a few of my friends got one. So I tested Gears one or two times with them. Learned about games like Fable from them. After a few years with few games, the PS3 exploded with great titles so I forget about it a little. Next gen aproach and I find myself looking at what Xbox is planning. They have proved themselves equals to Playstation this time( both under the Wii). I even learned that some games were better on it, like Red Dead Redemption. WTF?

So the Xbox E3 arrives. The biggest failure they got was the multimedia abilities of the Xbox one were already there in the box that we use to get internet in europe, so most of their "features" are redundant. Kinect was not helping either. I got to try it at a a convention. it was nice but needed a lot of space, and not enough games to be used more than one or two times with friends. PS4 then have their conference and are better, cheaper, and got the games that I loved since I got a PS2 ten years earlier. So i was relieved that Playstation would not be last this time. No more GTA DLC exclusive to Xbox! Back then I didn't cared that much about the PR blunders they made. Just that outside of Ryse, none of their games interested me. They got a few years of great CGI trailers since then. But no game that would make me buy a Xbox for it, like a MGS or a GTA. And when they got their first party studios to be on PC too, I stopped looking at them for a few years, outside of E3.

Back then I did not consider it that much of a failure. Just that they were not doing it for me. As long as they continued to make their Halo, Gears, Forza games and others like Fable they would have their US fan base happy. In hindsight what harmed them was also the weird slowdown of third parties games. No GTA on the Xbox one gen. No Skyrim successor. No true MGS, as MGS5 was cross gen and unfinished. The failure of Mass effect Andromeda... If we had games like in the PS2 era, lie a GTA every two years, and they were all multiplatform, it would have been better for them, and us of course.

 

[Alan Wake]

Well I guess I could’ve imported it, but I didn’t. For me it launched late 2014, when I had already had PS4 for a year and had built a games library, that plus the weaker power made XB1 my secondary choice by default.
I went with XB1X later though and skipped the PS4 Pro, so MS kinda repaired some bad early gen decisions there, it was powerful and silent, I liked it a lot. And when Gamepass arrived through pocket money deals I was fully aboard again.

Yes, in September 2014 if I remember correctly. The One X was something else, I bought it a few years later and regretted I had waited so long.

 

[Sakura]

They started losing me near the end of the 360 generation, and after the disappointing Xbox One announcement, I never purchased a new Xbox console.

 

[Bridges]

The reveal was horrible, I remember watching it live and thinking "the only thing that will stop me from going Playstation this gen is a new Dead Rising or a new Rock Band"

Of course that E3 Dead Rising 3 was announced and I begrudgingly submitted my pre-order. The "launch window" lineup was actually decent in hindsight, but man they flubbed the messaging here so hard, it's insane. They truly never recovered from this.

 

[funkygunther]

 

[nush]

So I was sitting there in my old apartment, connected via my Xbox 360 and waiting for the showcase to start.

That's exactly how it started for me, except because of timezones it was very early in the morning 2-3am? It was so bad I didn't even wait until the end and just tapped out pissed off that it was not worth staying up late for when I had work the next day. When I awoke GAF had been busy with the memes and Xbone was born.

I have a former colleague at Xbox in a position of some importance, I sent him an email consisting of a WTF is that .gif. He replied with a bunch of defense force stuff.

 

[GnomeChimpsky]

 

[DonJimbo]

Yes, in September 2014 if I remember correctly. The One X was something else, I bought it a few years later and regretted I had waited so long.

The One X was my best experience last Gen after i played on the PS4 Pro when i got my hands on the One X i never touched my PS4 Pro again
One X was a real Monster

 

[nush]

"the only thing that will stop me from going Playstation this gen is a new Dead Rising or a new Rock Band"

You got the Rock band too and being able to (For a while) import all* of your previous tracks was amazing.

*99% or whatever but close enough.

 

[gothmog]

My friend was a Gamestop manager at the time. He got a launch edition and a good selection of games I think for free. He asked if I wanted to borrow it less than a week later, telling me he was just busy and figured I would get some hours on it. I returned it to him a few days later. We both marvelled how bland everything was compared to the 360.

 

[10101]

Killed my interest in it…dead

I only had a 360 that gen (& a half decent PC) as the kids were little and money was tight. Was really looking forward to the MS showcase that year, but half way through decided on a PS4. Too much focus on non-gaming shit, Kinect, American TV, etc.

I was planning on picking one up towards the end of the gen, but when it got to it there wasn’t much I was interested in playing. Planning the same for this gen if they ever do manage to release some games I like…we’ll see I guess, but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[Stare-Bear]

This also revealed Adam Sessler to be a huuuuuuge Microsoft shill. One of the only “journalists” who was fully on board with everything Microsoft was offering.

And then his coke binge at E3 was just the cherry on top.

 

[ZehDon]

This was the day I exited the Xbox ecosystem. If Sony went the same way, I was fully prepared to abandon console gaming altogether. Fortunately, they didn't, and gaming continues.

This was also the beginning of three weeks of pain for Microsoft. Every day there was some new article about Microsoft and Xbox fucking up, leading to the one of the greatest E3s of all time, where Sony embarrassed them in front of the entire world. A really wild time.

 

[jasondefaoite]

This reveal and the days following it made my mind up to jump ship. "Back in the day" I was on Sega, but then the OG Xbox to the 360, good times. Switched to PS4 as my first Sony console, haven't looked back. Thanks Don!

 

[Crayon]

Funny, when all this was going on I had been doing nothing but retro and indigaming for a minute. I didn't even realize the PlayStation 4 had come out till like 6 months later. This includes not being on gaf for like a 5-year stretch or something like that. In fact, I only started posting again when I heard Street fighter 5 was coming out cuz I wanted some place to get some hype.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I think this is an important point. Mattrick gets all the hate for the failure, and obviously he deserves blame for the route they chose. But the lack of games is not all his fault. Spencer's definitely responsible here. The launch lineup was fine, though, better than PS4's I'd say. After 2015 it dried up quickly and the PS4 became a juggernaut. Xbox still haven't recovered.

I am giving up on asking hardcore Xbox fans to hold Spencer responsible, he could be MS CEO and people would then blame the board, he could purchase 51% of the shares himself and people would blame the government or something. How the Head of Game Studios and now the boss of all things Xbox is not to blame for either consoles launch lineup (it was his job getting Xbox One’s launch lineup ready) is beyond me… .

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

They charged $100 more than the PS4
It had weaker hardware than the PS4
They tried to ban used games
They tried to mandate an Internet connection
They focused heavily on multimedia offering over games
They pushed Kinect which no one cared about
They delayed release to many countries into 2014, alienating Japan and parts of Europe

So no surprises when Playstation came out on top. I had quite a few friends that jumped from PS2 > 360 then jumped back to PS4 and then got PS5s as a result of how they handled the Xbox One.

 

[Portugeezer]

360 was awesome, but after two 360's dying on me I was ready to move to PS4.

This disaster didn't help Microsoft chances though...

 

[Calverz]

I remember finding the showcase pretty meh. I didn’t like the look of the machine but the whole cooling argument allowed me to see past it’s flaws after the rrod debacle. I remember being somewhat surprised at the backlash online it got. Stuff like always online really didn’t bother me. I briefly considered a ps4 but I felt the launch lineup for the x1 was better. (I still do). Getting fifa 14 free at launch was a sweetener too. It wasn’t really until my friend showed me the game sharing technique, that I really got into it as we started to share the costs of game purchases.

 

[AMSCD]

The best thing about the Xbox One reveal was the react content on YouTube which gave them one of the most beautiful little roastings I've ever seen. I still watch some of the meltdowns every now and again.

The memes that this reveal generated were just...

Please share

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

The Wii U was piece of crap as a console, so dumb. But it did have some great games, many of which they ported to the Switch eventually. Nintendo released some gems on it. We gotta remember the game droughts it went through, though, because barely anyone else supported it.

Totally understand that POV. Me personally, I feel like I like the WiiU better than the Switch in hindsight. Not because of the software, of course. But the whole thing with the stationary plastic box, cool and quiet, innovative controller (a failure nontheless) and everything around it felt more like classic Nintendo to me. My impression is that the Switch is the most soulless Nintendo console ever. It even reflects in Zelda, which has lost its identity with BOTW for me (still one of my favourite games).

 

[Chastten]

Microsoft decided to treat the Netherlands as second rate territory by releasing a year later here, so I decided to treat Microsoft as a second rate console manufacturer and simply stopped buying them.

Shame, because I liked the original Xbox and 360 and their controllers are great as well.

We're now 10 years later and they offer pretty much nothing that suits my taste. They barely offer anything at all.

 

[Beer Baelly]

I had to wait a fucking year because it wasnt available in my tier two country lol.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Come to think of it, the Xbox One launch is in this day and age an absolute disaster. For some reason, they went with tiers. This was early 90's all over again with huge release gaps between markets. Even during the pandemic both Sony and MS did launch globally.

My country was a lower tier too, with the PS4 being there day one. They did eventually release the Xbox One at a lower price (same price as PS4), but a full year late. And then you would get a weaker system in return. There was for me no point in buying an Xbox One. Absolutely zero.

The 360 was popular, especially in its first 3 or so years. In fact it was more popular than PS3 for a while. And it profited off the headstart having exclusivity on next-gen versions of games. They burned all their bridges. Series X does recover some, but that not much I feel. Its not really being talked about either. Its all PS5.

 

[Stare-Bear]

Microsoft decided to treat the Netherlands as second rate territory by releasing a year later here, so I decided to treat Microsoft as a second rate console manufacturer and simply stopped buying them.

Shame, because I liked the original Xbox and 360 and their controllers are great as well.

We're now 10 years later and they offer pretty much nothing that suits my taste. They barely offer anything at all.

Totally forgot about the two tier launch

 

[Drizzlehell]

Whenever you'll stan for Microsoft in some random console warrior thread, just keep in mind that what they wanted to do with this console would be equivalent to putiting a collar with an explosive charge on everyone's neck, and your head would absolutely get blown the fuck off if it wasn't for the stroke of luck that was Don Mattrick, who completely fucked up the marketing strategy for this thing. Always-online DRM, expiring games due to user inactivity, inability to resell your physical copies, Kinect spying on you in your living room... and if you think that this isn't Microsoft's wet dream anymore, think again. GamePass is just a different method of approach to the idea of assessing complete control over what you are allowed to play and how.

 

[FunkMiller]

OP - for christ’s sakes don’t tell Phill Spencer you bought an Xbox One because of an exclusive game.

 

[Riky]

The One X was my best experience last Gen after i played on the PS4 Pro when i got my hands on the One X i never touched my PS4 Pro again
One X was a real Monster

Pretty much all the wrongs got righted by the One X which still can hold its own today. Forza Horizon 5 looks amazing on it, probably the high point visually of that generation.
The One S was a nice redesign as well, probably my favourite looking console. Most of all I remember Titanfall which was amazing in it's prime, they needed more like that.