The Redmond giant enters the videogame: Xbox
It is curious to investigate the history of video games and how each step seems to connect with another almost a few decades later, of course the launch of Microsoft to video games was not carried out on a whim or because Bill was missing another medal, the reality is that Microsoft at the beginning of the new millennium was one of the largest technology companies in the world, bringing its operating system and its multiple software to almost every computer in the world and generating an absurd amount of profits, by that time the company had clear where they wanted to focus that money, they saw that since the last decade a well known Sony had put in check Nintendo with its CD technology and its 3 dimensional graphics and that on paper was gaining territory easily in video games, that was enough for Microsoft to launch into this market, but they did not want for now a direct confrontation with an already consolidated Sony so they took their game to other areas, the PC.
That's right, you could say that Xbox started as an experiment that Microsoft developers first wanted to implement in the computer games market with its DirectX software which is an interface program that facilitates the programming of applications (including games), after all, Microsoft knew that it could not enter the console market without first giving a preview of how this future console was going to operate and how developers were going to be able to program games for it, DirectX worked both spectacularly and unexpectedly, it allowed Microsoft to monopolize the PC market by implementing DirectX in all its sold copies of Windows so that progressively people who made PC games were also learning how to make Xbox games, although we still didn't get that far.
Already having the control (for the moment) of PC games it was time to focus on the console market, Microsoft had taken note of several strategies that Sony had used to overcome Nintendo and now with a large number of developers knowing how to make games for their software decided to give the blow, in November 2001 the Xbox was announced in a ceremony that brought together Bill Gates with Dwayne Johnson, shortly after the specifications of the console were released and the rest was history, The technical prowess that Microsoft had in their hands in combination with a good strategy to bring innovative games such as Halo to be exclusive to their console allowed Microsoft to enter fully into the console market having a beastly reception especially in the United States, the war was declared and although Xbox sales pale to those of its competition (PS2 being one of the biggest successes in the history of video games), it did lay a foundation on which Microsoft could settle and think of a sequel for their console, one that could perhaps define their dominance in the video game.
Things were not going to go quite right at first for Microsoft with their sequel to the original Xbox, the Xbox 360 was a leap in every way that came almost a year before its closest competition (Playstation 3) and collected sales at a supersonic speed further cementing the success of the first console, but soon the problems would appear in the worst place, the hardware of the console, perhaps due to the rush of its development and launch had been experiencing some failures that left the console unusable, the red ring of death would become an administrative nightmare for Microsoft having to extend the warranty of the first models of their consoles in addition to deploy a huge team to give solution to their problem, something that did not diminish its success in the market defining a new generation along with Sony's PS3, putting the Online game in everyone's mouth as well as innovating game after game with graphics that would change the video game forever, Microsoft in these years would also begin to employ a new concept for their consoles and that is to make the Xbox a multimedia center where movies, music and video games would be combined, something that would implement half with Xbox 360 but would bet much of its efforts for the next console.
The Xbox One, as it was called, is a strange project, on the one hand it felt like a leap into the void by Microsoft but at the same time it was an ambitious project, which brought to the table peripherals like Kinect and an interface 10 times more powerful than its predecessor, but also features that were controversial at the time as the permanent internet connection that the console must have and the limitation of sharing second-hand games that until then was a common practice among gamers. One was a project that slowed down a bit the boom that Xbox had had but also left positive points such as Microsoft's growing commitment to independent games (evidenced by the purchase of Minecraft) as well as several outstanding games that left the brand in a state of expectation for the next edition of the console.
Xbox Series is perhaps the console that currently attracts me the most, it has substantial improvements over the previous model and Microsoft has proposed once and for all to take control of the video game market, with a strategy that involves the creation of Game Pass, a service that with a monthly payment would let you play for free a fairly large number of games as well as an even wilder bet on indies and First Party games, We are still watching the battle between this version of Xbox and PS5 but 20 years later it is clear, Microsoft is here to stay, in one way or another has been key to lead the world of video games to where it is today, has in Xbox a brand that can maneuver in many ways and in PC a market with an iron vitality, the future looks good for the Redmond giant.
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