The Xbox One was revealed on this day 6 years ago

[Windrunner]

This reveal and the early years represented everything I hated about Xbox and I am glad it failed miserably.

Now with Game Pass, Xbox One X, Kinect dead and buried, backwards compatibility and a significant investment in first party games we're back on track.

Definitely a tale of two halves.

 

[Dringus]

Such a shit launch but they turned a lot around, luckily. Really hoping they can knock it out of the park next gen right out of the gate.

 

[Terbinator]

Car crash reveal.

 

[Maple]

Phil and the rest of the team have turned it around in a big way.

But damn, the initial idea, philosophy, and reveal of the Xbox One was so broken and out of touch. Everything from the architecture of the system to the branding was built around it being a "media" device first, and a gaming device second. Fortunately the people that made all of those decisions are no longer at Microsoft.

 

[enemy2k]

Despite the awful launch reveal, it has become one of my favorite systems of all time. And BC has been great for me.

 

[Bioshocker]

What a bad day. Being a loyal Xbox gamer since 2002 I watched it all on my Xbox 360, hyped and curious about what they were going to show. And then... a gut wrenching disappointment. I was furious. When everything just got worse at E3 I pre-ordered a PS4 (which I ended up cancelling since there wasn't any interesting games at launch). I didn't get an Xbox One until 2015. It took a while to trust Microsoft again and by then the games I wanted had started to arrive. I sincerely hope they won't do something as awful as the Xbox reveal in May 2013 again.

The Xbox One still ended up being my main platform for the generation, which I didn't expect. PS4 is still the console I would recommend to most people, though. But I buy most of my third party games for Xbox. That Elite controller...

 

[RestEerie]

This is like the 'red wedding' of xbox

 

[dodmaster]

Kinect. Titanfall (CBOAT and 792p). RDR1 @ 4k. MCC launch. Day One achievements for sale on CDKeys. NTKRNL leaks. GTAV GrassGate. RDR2 @ 4k. ROTTR exclusivity.

What a ride.

 

[Theorry]

I still think they should move away from the Xbox One name tho. It will be always associated with the launch.
More difficult now tho with lines between gens being blurred more then previous gens.

 

[vestan]

Kinect. Titanfall (CBOAT and 792p). RDR1 @ 4k. MCC launch. Day One achievements for sale on CDKeys. NTKRNL leaks. GTAV GrassGate. RDR2 @ 4k. ROTTR exclusivity.

What a ride.

Click to shrink...

Oh man I completely forgot about Grassgate lmao

Good times

 

[jroc74]

A pretty decent gen?

Sales are so disappointing that they don't reveal them anymore and first party games aren't close to the level of Nintendo or Sony.

They've lost an absolute ton of ground in what they made up last gen.

Click to shrink...

Just look at the pic in the OP.

That's the One S and X, not even the orig XBO. That says it all about this gen for XBO.

 

[Gloam]

Boneheaded stuff.

TV's Ryan Macleod puts it nicely:

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

The reveal made me build a new PC and go pretty much 100% with that for several years. I had been primarily a console and especially Xbox player until that point.

Wasn't until BC and eventually the X that got me to switch back. They're objectively behind on software still, but I'm not a superfan of Sony's exclusives so I probably don't feel the gulf in quality the same way other people do.

 

[Akai]

Me, during the reveal:

The worst reveal I've ever seen. Lets not repeat this ever again.

 

[dodmaster]

Oh man I completely forgot about Grassgate lmao
Good times

Click to shrink...

this generation spawned an insane amount of memes tbh.

 

[dodmaster]

Fortunately the people that made all of those decisions are no longer at Microsoft.

Click to shrink...

Hmn. I would imagine Phil had a say in it. Has he ever taken a share of the responsibility for the reveal?

 

[Deleted member 4260]

Horrible reveal but I really like my Slim a bunch. I mostly use it for BC and it's been fantastic for that. They really turned it around and I commend MS for that. Looking forward to seeing what got for E3 this year!

 

[Baked Pigeon]

One of the worse launches ever.

Microsoft did just enough at the end of this gen to get people excited for the future of Xbox. It was not a pretty gen by any means, but they survived.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

I remember the DRM hullabaloo. My word, so much conflicting information until that MS press release saying you can play used games and swap them around without hassle.

 

[Patitoloco]

Still one of the worst conferences I've ever seen. It's baffling how it missed the point by soooo much.

And I say this knowing that some of the initiatives they had towards the digital future were more on point than anything. Not in 2013 though.

 

[Flon]

The Xbox One reveal was the first post I made on the last forum. I was just dumbfounded.

At the time it spawned far more questions than it gave answers and set a really grim tone for the new generation until Sony's PS4 reveal. The amount of bizarre additional DRM information and back-and-forth over the next few weeks was a complete mess on their behalf. And as someone who wasn't from the U.S., it felt like a conference that was specifically built to say that I should have no interest in it, especially since at the time I didn't have a great connection.

 

[Era of not Yakuza]

That day was so fun
Nobody believed
50% of the show without any talk related to games

 

[SlipperyMoose]

This was a pretty tough day for me as a life long Xbox fan. I remember saying to myself I can't believe I'm not getting the next Xbox. And then they started changing things and really won me back this generation.

 

[PeskyToaster]

The launch period was fun. When we were getting more and more confirmation that the PS4 was more powerful and $100 cheaper. Just got funnier and funnier. Xbox execs were making bets with forum members lul. Wild stuff.

 

[Dictator]

They completely missed the boat of what the important buying audience wants here with this thing.

 

[Deleted member 8784]

Microsoft as a company is so different now compared to 2013, I'm fascinated to see how they handle it differently this time.

Xbox One was originally designed by the same Microsoft who thought Windows 8 was okay.

 

[Ardiloso]

From a total shitshow to the best console this gen. Quite a turnaround. And changed the Xbox division forever, for better.
Phil <3

 

[It’s Time To Go]

I just remember all the memes.

 

[パンダさん]

What a dumpster fire.
Glad they turned it around so well.

 

[Taker34]

It felt like they didn't care about their European customers at all - let alone respecting their core audience. That reveal made me switch from 360 to PS4, though thankfully MS will probably start thinking in a more global context next gen.

 

[Deleted member 5745]

It was definitely Microsoft's "PS3 $599" moment. But they've done a really great job at turning things around.

 

[Notaskwid]

#ps4nodrm

 

[Fisty]

They've turned it around on everything but the games, and with a few strong acquisitions recently they are definitely primed for the next gen. Sadly they didn't pull a PS3-level turnaround and start pumping out GOTYs in the last half of the XB1, as that would help raise the brand's profile going into gen 9

 

[Kage Maru]

What a shit show this reveal was. This was right up there with the Saturn and PS3 as textbook examples of how not to reveal and promote your console.

 

[Brown Intruder]

Catastrophic reveal. Coupled with everything else lost them this gen before the console was even up for preorder.

Can lightening strike twice this e3??

 

[Deleted member 51248]

think it was around the time of this conference I started lurking on the old place, and also found VideogamerTV.
"Im here to tell you about the next generation of video games... Television!"

stuck with my 360 and played primarily on a wiiU to catch up on Nintendos catalogue. Went back to Xbox when Gears Ultimate came out (basically when they dropped the Kinect), they've turned it around but I hope they don't make as big a blunder this time around.

 

[Memento]

It was so funny

Good times

 

[SmittyWerbenManJensen]

One of the worst reveals ever.

Fortunately, they have greatly turned things around. I love my One X, plus Game Pass is the best value right now. It's funny because I initially said I'd never own an Xbox One (after seeing its initial reveal).

 

[Renna Hazel]

This is when I lost faith in Xbox and it's gotten worse each year since then. I love my 360 but this marked too big of a change in Direction for me.

 

[m_dorian]

Spencer should be highly credited for salvaging a shipwreck to safe harbors, repairing it to a sturdy vessel and steering it to the success it has now.
It was not just throwing money, they worked hard for this outcome and, not without some mistakes, they seem to be following this route with the required diligence.

Of course its Microsoft so i am kind of expecting the arrogance to return but so far they are ok.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

what a shitshow that reveal was, but it's very impressive how they've managed to turn things around in preparation for next gen.

 

[Taker34]

They completely missed the boat of what the important buying audience wants here with this thing.

Click to shrink...

You, John and Richard will have to do a DF Retro Extra commentary on this conference in a few years, right? :P

 

[Error 52]

I rewatched the conference recently, and man, I forgot how fucking barren it was.

Like, I think it's fair to focus on the console and not the games during a reveal conference (that's what E3 is for) but the only console demonstrations we saw at all were Forza 5 (a good looking game at the time for sure, but you'd really have to compare with 4 to see the improvement) and CoD Ghosts. (Remember fish AI lol)

Like, throw up some tech demos and comparisons at least, Jesus.

Add onto that the showcasing of useless features that are largely gone or depreciated from the system, and yeah.

 

[fracas]

Bought the console purely for MCC. Probably the worst purchase I've ever made.

I hope MS has something decent planned for next gen as they haven't put out a game I care about for the better part of a decade. The Halo-Gears-Forza cerberus of mediocrity has been stale for ages.

 

[Segafreak]

Man there was nothing to be excited about in that show, and their E3 was a bore too, literally killed my hype for the entire gen for Xbox.

Hopefully in a few weeks with the announcement of the next Xbox, all we hear and see are specs and games and their streaming plans cuz all said and done, streaming is the future.

 

[AdrianG4]

I remember this reveal so vividly. Watched the Giantbomb stream. It was so dumb. Even in 2013 you, you could feel how out of date the Xbox One vision was.

 

[Zappy]

It was a dreadful reveal. Awful. But I don't think there has been a bigger turnaround ever. To go from that to the X and leading the way in cloud gaming, backwards compatibility and console performance...great stuff.

As well as Microsoft's transition as a whole to a responsible, well intention-ed, trillion dollar company.

Now we have to see what their new studios can produce because no doubt they need to up the quality of games they have to offer. We know, Gears, Halo and Forza are some of the best exclusives around but they undoubtedly need more and newer ideas.

 

[Rubik8]

And I've owned ZERO iterations of their console this gen.

Click to shrink...

Same here. After that horrible reveal, I swore that I'd never own an Xbox One.

 

[EvilBoris]

It's crazy when you see this at just how much it's changed.

Even the style of the keynote is just aping Apple's presentation style

Thank god they all got past that

 

[JaseC64]

I remember the tier1 and tier 2-3 talk as well. Like it was a slap to certain countries/regions. Lol

Still they made a 180 at the end. They are in way better position now.