On Wednesday, Microsoft announced on Xbox.com that they were stopping the production of Xbox 360. The Xbox console once held a quarter of the North America and Europe’s Market share, higher even than Microsoft’s expectations.
Phil Spencer, the Head of Xbox, reflected on the journey and the achievements of the Xbox console. “Franchises like Gears of War were born on the 360, and established blockbusters like Halo really came into their own during this console generation. Xbox 360 was also the foundation of the industry-leading technical innovation like Kinect, and the start of system updates and dashboard refreshes on fan feedback” he posted. “ Thanks to the Xbox 360, we evolved Xbox Live from the original Xbox into the thriving online game community it is today. And the console became a beloved gaming and entertainment hub with over 78 billion gaming hour played, nearly 486 billion Gamerscore on 27 billion achievements and over 25 billion hours spent in apps over its lifetime.”
The story of Xbox began when Bill Gates, co-Founder of Microsoft set-up plans to make a console in order to ‘prevent Sony from controlling computing outside the desktop’. The Xbox was an amazing feat of engineering, the entire console was designed from scratch and launched it worldwide in just 20 months. By the time Sony’s PS3 released across Japan, Microsoft was ready in shipping more than 10 million Xbox 360 units to retail. Started with the aim to match Sony’s Play Station in terms of sales, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 had much higher sales of 80 million units. But the Xbox 360’s journey was not entirely profitable since it lost more than $4 billion in four years.
Existing stock of Xbox 360 will continue to be sold and so will the accessories and games for the console. Deals, multiplayer gaming and social features will continue to be available on Xbox live. People who own Xbox One as well as the Xbox 360 can now play the 360’s games on their One without any additional cost.