Microsoft’s original Xbox launched 25 years ago today for about $299, a PC in a bulky black and green box.
It went on sale on 15 November 2001 (Microsoft’s September 2001 release gave an estimated $299.99), and buyers took home more than three games each. By the end of 2001, about six weeks after launch, Microsoft had sold 1.5 million consoles in North America.
According to Tom’s Hardware, the Xbox arrived in the sixth generation of consoles, an era that the PlayStation 2 led.
A PC in a box
The Xbox ran on an Intel Pentium III at 733 MHz and an Nvidia NV2A GPU at 233 MHz, with 64MB of DDR SDRAM. It also had an optical DVD drive and an 8GB hard drive built in, and an Ethernet jack came as standard. Its operating system was a heavily modified, controller-friendly version of Windows 2000.
The games
Nineteen games were available in North America during launch week, but Halo: Combat Evolved defined the machine. Bungie developed it, Microsoft Game Studios published it, and it passed one million copies in the US and Canada by April 2002. Ports to Windows and Mac OS X followed in 2003.
The launch lineup also included Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive 3, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, and NFL Fever 2002.
What it set up
Xbox Live launched in North America on 15 November 2002, exactly a year after the console, and passed one million members by July 2004. Japan got the console on 22 February 2002 at ¥34,800, and Europe and Australia followed on 14 March 2002. In the US, the price fell from $299.99 to $199.99 within six months.
The Xbox sold about 24 million units worldwide, and the PlayStation 2 outsold it to become the best-selling console of all time. The Xbox 360 succeeded it in late 2005.
The anniversary today
Microsoft is marking 25 years with a 25-game bundle for new Windows PCs. It’s also offering a limited-edition Xbox Series X25 at $899 and free anniversary extras for people without a PC. The Series X25 comes in translucent OG Green with 1TB of SSD storage and a matching controller.
Tbreak has covered how original Xbox games can now be played on PC, on the ROG Xbox Ally too.
