Microsoft Lied to the Press About the Original Xbox’s Existence When it Was Leaked Before its Reveal

Microsoft entered into the games market at the turn of the century with the original Xbox, which has recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Now, a virtual museum dedicated to the history of the brand has revealed some rather interesting stories about the brand, one of which goes into detail about the story when information of the console being in production leaked to the press before Microsoft officially announced it (spotted by Pure Xbox). 

Next Gen Magazine had, at the time, reached out to Xbox for comments on the leaked console, where officials of the company lied to the press that no such thing was in development. Xbox’s Seamus Blackley told the press that at that time, he was working on an API for 3D FX video cards for Windows when in actuality he was, of course, leading the team creating Xbox.

‘”No, man’,” Blackley recalls saying to the press. “‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s Xbox? What are you talking about? I’m the program manager for entertainment graphics for Windows. I’m working on APIs for 3D FX video cards for Windows.’ [I was] just lying to him.”

Xbox’s 20th anniversary celebrations have been rather lavish, with over 70 games being added to the backwards compatibility library, and a bunch of games receiving FPS Boost support. Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer also shadow dropped on the occasion.