20 Years of Xbox- A retrospective of Microsoft's leap into the gaming industry.

Happy 20 years to Xbox! Yes, that's right it's been 20 long years since Microsoft first became part of the gaming industry, becoming one of its hardware and software titans, bringing ups and downs, happy and sad memories, and quite possibly one of the biggest comebacks after their blunder with the Xbox One.

But we can't talk about the legacy of Xbox without talking about the console that started it all. The one, the original, 'The Beast', the Xbox (2001)

Picture this, it's the very early 2000s, there are two key players in the ever-expansive gaming industry, Sony with their PlayStation, and Nintendo with their Nintendo 64. Both sides had their core audiences and an attractive library of games to bring in consumers, but then there came another...

In 1999, Microsoft made an announcement, they were joining the gaming industry themselves with their very own console, which fill be announced in 2001. Fast forward two years, and we find ourselves at CES, an annual trade show showcasing the latest in electronics built for consumers. Bill Gates himself goes up on stage and unveils the final design of the Xbox alongside Dwayne 'The Rock. Johnson, for the world to see.

Fast forward again and it's E3 2001, when we get a few more details on the Xbox such as its price and release date, as well as some of the games that the console would launch with such as Halo.

November 15th, 2001, the Xbox launches worldwide, and Microsoft have officially entered the game market. Commercially, it did really well. Considering that it was an entirely new console and set to compete against heavy hitters like Sony and Nintendo, sales were solid. Statistics show that as of May 2006, a total of 26 million units were sold worldwide, which is incredibly impressive. Competition was steep too, Sony already had its second console released by the time Xbox joined the fray. The PlayStation 2 had been announced in 1999 and was released in 2000, and Sega were also still in the console market with their final console, the Sega Dreamcast which had been released in 1999.

The fact that Xbox managed to power through this console generation is an impressive feat, but it wasn't just the technical specifications, design or even the near limitless funding from Microsoft that helped it succeed, it was the games, always the games.

The three heavy hitters in terms of launch titles were Dead or Alive 3, Project Gotham Racing and of course, Halo: Combat Evolved.

There's a reason Halo is the pinnacle of Xbox franchises and why its been the companies mascot for the last 20 years, and it all dates back to the Combat Evolved for helping kick-start the Xbox craze.

If you needed a reason to get the Xbox on its release date, it was Halo every time. It was essentially the Xbox's 'killer app' with impressive visuals (for the time) a solid story with memorable characters, and most importantly, gameplay that set the standard for all first-person shooters to come after it.

After launch, the game library just kept expanding with more impressive software. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 1 and 2 felt at home on the system, as did Fable, Ninja Gaiden, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, and the hit sequel to Combat Evolved, Halo 2.

The Xbox also had the added bonus of being more powerful than the PlayStation 2, which meant cross platform games like Grand Theft Auto, Splinter Cell, Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, Destroy All Humans and more were more impressive to play on an Xbox.

Moving on from the games, online multiplayer was a huge part of the original Xbox, in the form of Xbox Live. If you weren't playing online at the time, you were missing out. Multiplayer games like Halo 2 and Star Wars Battlefront were a lot of fun, and the fact that Xbox were the first home console to give us a stable and easy to use multiplayer, with online chat functionality was a big win for Microsoft. The ease of use of simply going onto an online game, pressing play and have it automatically link you up with other players was incredibly impressive and something we tend to take for granted nowadays.

And that's that really, we've had 20 years of Xbox. From the original Xbox in 2001 all the up to the Xbox Series X and S in 2021. It's safe to say that Microsoft made the right call when took the leap into the game industry and it's nice to look back on everything they've given gamers over the years. And they're not done yet, you can catch their official 20th Anniversary Live Stream show today via their official YouTube account here, so tune in for any announcements or celebrations they have in store! Here's to another 20 years, and Happy Birthday Xbox!