Xbox at 25: How Microsoft muscled its way into console gaming and changed the industry | The National

On November 15, 2001, US tech giant Microsoft released a large black box into a gaming industry traditionally dominated by Japanese companies.

There was not much subtlety about the Xbox. The console was enormous compared with its competitors. Its original controller was similarly oversized. A fluorescent green circle bearing the letter X sat at the centre of the machine.

Microsoft was entering hostile territory. Sony had already found enormous success with the original PlayStation and its successor, the PlayStation 2, was quickly becoming the dominant console of its era. Nintendo, still three years away from launching the game-changing Wii console, had fallen out of favour and was synonymous with only its first-party exclusive games.

Yet 25 years after that first North American launch, Microsoft remains one of the three names that define console gaming.

The original Xbox never came close to defeating the PlayStation 2 commercially, but that is arguably the least important part of the…