10 years ago today, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One in what must be the worst console press conference of all time

[Return of the Jedi]

Microsoft walked out like



just to announce:

No games.

The ability to use social media and hook up to your cable box (which were already disappearing across the US and Europe).

The console always has to be online, and if you don't like that, keep playing your 360, you clown.

Used games won't work on the system.


I remember watching this 10 years ago, 20 years old, like

The 360 had parity with the PS3 in US market share, which was an incredible feat given that the PS3 was God damn juggernaut. This press conference is a master class in how to destroy a brand's momentum. Microsoft is now third in console market share and will probably never claw back past Nintendo, let alone Sony. Good job guys.

 

[Rekkapryde]

Xbox leadership yall

Trash since the back half of the 360 till today

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

This press conference was so bad, i wasn’t even really paying attention to gaming news back then and it hit me and my group of friends.

 

[Killer Instinct]

I was only checking for the Xbox at this time. The PS4 wasn't even on my radar.

And then this happened.

Easiest pivot to a competitor I ever made.

 

[levitate]

That was the day that I switched the SonySet.

 

[Arcavian]

This killed the xbox brand.

 

[Saint1]

Then they killed the media features.

 

[Black Mamba]

Fumblebots

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

its crazy how till this day there are people that still ride for this shytty console and the current leadership that was there the entire time this disaster was going on

 

[ORDER_66]

Man that was a magical clusterfukk of a night.. 10 years flew by and they still struggling.... Meach was having a fukking existential crisis

 

[Fatboi1]

Self ether at this point.

 

[MarcP]

Kinect being successful was the worst thing to happen to Xbox. Steve Ballmer saw that shyt doing numbers among the casuals and immediately pivoted the whole Xbox brand. nikkas had NFL and The Price is Right in an Xbox reveal. One of the big reveals was that they hired the head of CBS' TV division to make tv shows.

What's funny is a lot of the shyt they were pushing is the norm now. Everybody corporation has a streaming TV service now. Kinect was big brother is watching you status, years later Alexa is in hundreds of millions homes without a peep. Digital media has taken over physical. Microsoft's biggest failure was not realizing that nobody wanted that from a video game console.

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

Owned a 360 and PS3 at that point. I didn't buy a Xbox again until 2017.

A decision that I regret to this day.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Self ether at this point.

Microsoft came out like

 

[Pure Water]

The 360 had parity with the PS3 in US market share, which was an incredible feat given that the PS3 was God damn juggernaut. This press conference is a master class in how to destroy a brand's momentum. Microsoft is now third in console market share and will probably never claw back past Nintendo, let alone Sony. Good job guys.

The PS3 did not start off as a juggernaut. It had a mediocre launch and didn't really start hitting its stride until 2009-10. Sony eventually started to outsell Microsoft so seeing Sony win the next generation was not a shock. What was a shock was just how bad Microsoft fumbled.