Ten years ago, Microsoft launched the unassuming successor to the original Xbox. And while they must definitely have expected it to be a better success than the original Xbox, which could barely make its presence felt in the market against the almighty PlayStation 2, it is debatable whether they, or anyone else, for that matter, expected the Xbox 360 to be the monolithic, monumental force in the console market that it became.
So much of what we love about gaming today owes itself back to the Xbox 360 – from Achievements to integrated online play and online communities, from indie games to the proliferation of so many modern game franchises, from third party friendly game development policies that completely changed the game to even the system’s iconic controller design, widely considered to be the greatest ever – the Xbox 360 was a triumph. It will go down in history as a classic system.
Its legacy lives on when you look at the PlayStation 4, which is essentially Sony’s own take on the Xbox 360- a powerful, developer friendly console with emphasized social and networking features, an emphasis on third party content, exclusive DLC and bundles for multiplat titles, distribution of indie games, and a relative lack of emphasis on first party content.
There is nothing wrong with that- the Xbox 360 was awesome.
On the occasion of the system’s tenth birthday, Microsoft shared an infographic with some impressive statistics. Enjoy.
