Xbox celebrates its 20th anniversary today • Eurogamer.pt

Congratulations to Xbox! It’s been 20 years since the brand’s first console was launched on the market.

The first Xbox console grew out of Microsoft’s desire to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 2 console. Having already teamed up with Sega in porting Windows CE to Sega’s Dreamcast, Microsoft hired four of its engineers to build a console-style box with DirectX support.

From there, from the name DirectX Box, the name of the Xbox console appeared. At first, the marketing team didn’t like the name, but a consumer survey revealed that Xbox was a more popular name than the alternatives. This is how Xbox was born.

The Xbox first arrived in North America on November 15, 2001, after being launched in February 2002 in Japan and then in March in Europe and Australia. In the same year, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, a service for playing online and downloading content.

The first (and later sequel) Halo along with Xbox Live became console majors, which ended up selling 24 million units. Microsoft’s next console, the Xbox 360, was much more successful, with over 85 million units sold.

The brand’s newest consoles are the Xbox Series X and Series S. Both became available on November 10, 2020. In addition to these consoles, the brand is now mostly known for Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of games at an attractive price. .

What are your memories of the first Xbox? Share the comments with us.

Xbox console history

• Xbox – November 15, 2001 (North America)
• Xbox 360 – November 22, 2005 (North America)
• Xbox One – November 22, 2013 (North America)
• Xbox Series X | S – 10 November 2020 (World Cup)