Microsoft's 20th anniversary celebration of the Xbox

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Microsoft's 20th anniversary celebration of the Xbox

The next month marks Microsoft s 20th anniversary of the Xbox brand. One of the Big Three console makers has seen their Xbox line grow alongside Sony SONY and Nintendo NTDOY to become one of the biggest gaming brands out there in 2001.

But the Xbox's success was never guaranteed and, according to one of the people behind the brand, it was feared that the original console would never come to market.

In those early days. we were so, how, where was launch of our mobile application? How did Robbie Bach tell Yahoo Finance? I mean, there was real uncertainty about whether the console was going to survive just for the light of day. In 2010, Bach retired from Microsoft as the president of the Entertainment and Devices division. He has since launched his new career as an author with the release of his first book and second novel, The Wilkes Insurrection, a contemporary thriller about anarchists trying to wipe the country apart.

'The original Xbox lost somewhere between $5 billion and $7 billion'’

Microsoft s Xbox product sales unit, which includes software and hardware sales and subscription services like its Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass, saw revenue growth of 23% in fiscal 2021. In Q 4, the tech giant reported year over year Xbox hardware revenues of 172% on the strength of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series X consoles.

Microsoft doesn t break out specific revenue numbers for the Xbox line, instead bundling it with its More Personal Computing business, which saw $14.1 billion in revenue in the company s fiscal Q 4.

So far, the Xbox Series X and Series S have been Microsoft's fastest selling consoles. The stock of chips used by Sony in the PlayStation 5 has doubled since then, with demand outpacing supply.

And while the Series X and S are only a year into their lives, their success appears as though it will easily outpace that of the original Xbox.

The original Xbox lost somewhere between $5 billion to $7 billion depending on how you do the cost accounting, Bach said.

The guy who loses $5 or 7 billion don't survive, neither does the project. pretty early on said, we want a next generation. And Steve Ballmer Challenge the Chairman to do it right. And the team really got organized on the strategy. By the time the 1st generation Xbox had been discontinued in 2005, Microsoft sold some 24 million units. However the current PlayStation 2 sold a whopping 155 million units. Sony s PlayStation 3 closed the gap, however, selling 84 million units to the Xbox 360's 87 million shares of Sony.

Part of Xbox's turnaround had to do with its online game Xbox Live, which allowed gamers to easily connect and play on the internet. It wasn t a novel idea — PC gamers have played online for years. Trotzdem, Microsoft s simple approach made Xbox Live a winner.

When I say two things: Halo a hit game and Xbox Live, back said. Without that two things I think the console probably doesn't survive and the brand doesn't get built. The Xbox 360 also benefited by undermining the PS3 price launch by $100 to $200. And Microsoft points to the fact that Microsoft had access to Deep Pockets of the Xbox.

The one advantage to Startups were we were super well funded, he said. So we could make a few mistakes that cost us money. Brand-building capability is considered to be very important. In all these cases, however, we had to focus on getting the points right. And it led to only crazy amounts of work. Microsoft s third console, the Xbox One, was released in 2013, but it didn t perform nearly as well as the Xbox 360. The company sold about 51 million units sold to PlayStation 4 s 116 million Part of the reason for the poor showing was Microsoft's decision to make the PlayStation 4 slightly more expensive than the Xbox One at launch. By that time, however, Bach had left the business.

Now he spends his time as an expert speaker and author.

I think the inspiration for The Wilkes Insurrection goes back to Xbox, Chris Bach said. And video games itself are stories. And I learned that storytelling and that creativity upon my last day on Xbox. None of Apple's rumored AirPods would be just another attempt to make you healthier.

E-mail Daniel Howley at dhowleyyahoofinance.com over via encrypted email at Danielphowley protonmail.com and follow him on Twitter @ DanielHowley.