Last week's IGN interview with Head of Xbox Phil Spencer was very revealing on all things Xbox and Xbox Series X, and the website later posted another interview with the Xbox boss on YouTube talking about the upcoming console in even more detail. As part of this, Spencer reflected on the original design of Xbox One, and why Xbox One S and Xbox One X were so different:
"What we had with Xbox One was a team that didn't have enough time because of late binding executive decisions on certain things, and this is why we started in 2016 this time around [with Xbox Series X]. And at the same time, we started testing certain things in the market to ensure that when we got to this point, things would work. Things like, can we take our back compat catalogue of games and actually have them run better on a new piece of hardware?"
In response to a question of whether a change of personnel was involved in designing the Xbox One S, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X, Spencer insisted the team was the same, and indicated it was simply a matter of giving them enough time to achieve their goals.
"The hardware team [on Xbox Series X] had the time. We started early enough that we could set what our goals were - same thing on [Xbox One] S, same thing on [Xbox One] X. . . so when people try to tell me it's about a new team or new leadership there, it's like no, no, no - you give a good team time and clear direction on what we're trying to go do, and they can do amazing work."
Are you still rocking an original Xbox One console? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
[source youtube.com, via uk.ign.com]
Comments 18
I still have my original Xbox One from December 2013, and I have to say, it's the quietest and most reliable console I've ever owned. To hear it was rushed as well - congrats to the team for building such a great system under the circumstances.
My Xbox One has been reliable too, but the power button can be activated by static electricity, which causes it to randomly turn on when the fans in my room are running and it's dry. An old coworker had the same issue. It drives us crazy. A baby at the Microsoft Store even managed to turn off some Xbox Ones by sliding its hand across the front of them. So glad they ditched capacitive buttons. The console also was pretty bulky and didn't look very sleek. No hardware failure though, which is great. I had to replace thermal paste on my cousin's fat 360 and managed to play some Halo on it with coworkers to stress a $10000 AV setup so we could debug which converter box was making static. What a shame after all those hours of Halo and replacing wires and converter boxes till we found the culprit that the university closed from coronavirus.
It was reliable hardware, unlike the 360, so they did well in that regard.
It looked ugly tho, even worse next to PS4. Glad the redesign made it look better
@Vincent294 I know where you're coming from re: the static electricity comment. It's always a bit unnerving to hear your Xbox One randomly turn on by itself.
I waited until the One S revision. The S and X are beautiful consoles.
I have the Xbox One S. I was never a big fan of the original as it looked like a VCR from the 80’s or 90’s. I have never liked the look of the PS4 either.
But the X and the S are both good looking machines. 👍🏻
I traded my Xbox One in towards an Xbox One X.
@Incarna
Exactly. This is why I always say, “In Phil, I trust.” I’m not sure how anyone can say that Phil Spencer hasn’t done an amazing job since he fully took over Xbox.
I love his interviews, because he doesn’t just talk like some suit, tech guy, or some PR stooge. He’s an actual gamer himself. He is smart & lets his teams just do what they do best. And it sounds like they have a great plan this time around. They have been killing it since he had the roadblocks in front of him removed. We’ll see if they stick the landing, but I am confident that they will.
This leads more evidence towards my theory that the reason the Xbox One got a bad wrap is entirely because of Don Mattrick.
@joeyflannel
Oh it was all Don Mattrick. He was an arrogant $?@! that almost completely ruined Xbox. And Phil spent most of the Xbox One generation tying to clean up his mess.
I actually have an original Xbox One that I bought off of a co-worker when he upgraded to the One X. I kinda liked the design though just a simple design nothing too fancy. I can see where people with limited space might not like it because how bulky it is when compared to the S or One X.
The Xbox one was bulky, but well built and quiet. The Xbox one S and X are two of the best console designs, sleek and quiet. The Xbox SX is looking great so far too, hopefully it's just as quiet as Xbox one family.
you give a good team time and clear direction on what we're trying to go do, and they can do amazing work." - Phil Spencer
Great example of leadership.
Still have my Day One Xbone. It was obvious it was rushed to keep up with Sony. Why else ship with Kinect when the primary game using it was not yet ready. I echo others comments about reliability My 360 died within a year. Up to Xmas 2019 (when my X1X arrived) the only failures my X1 had were the drifting joystick and the power brick. The console itself ran without a hitch. The power button was a pain as the Wife was always turning it on when cleaning.
@GamingFan4Lyf Same here and both are very reliable but obviously Xbox One X is slicker and a lot more capable. Xbox One X is a wonderful console, it has it all and makes me believe in Series X.
I also got a launch PS4 that ejected discs randomly because of the capacitive button and that caused games to close without saving. These capacitive buttons that activate without being touched are no good!
It's more than obvious there was a complete and total lack of organization and planning with Don Mattrick in charge and you simply can't have that especially at a company that's in the console-making business. With Series X there is clearly a sound plan and you can tell by how Phil Spencer is acting, it's very similar to how Robbie Bach, J Allard and Peter Moore were acting as they prepared to bring the 360 to the market. It's all good signs so far. Just need launch titles and price.
@KelticDevil the man was a pr disaster. It wasn't surprising he went down a different path... A rather dark, rocky, strange path that went nowhere... When this was a man that used to work for EA. That alone speaks volumes, plus let's not forget him telling Geoff Keighley that people without Internet should buy an Xbox 360.
Diffence between Spencer and Mattrick is Spencer maybe a businessman, but he's also a gamer. Mattrick was a former EA exec.
@SuperNintendoMii
Exactly. Mattrick was poison & an embarrassment to Xbox fans.
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