We chat with members of the original Xbox team and Bungie in this special look back at the origins of a service that forever changed console gaming
Today Xbox Live boasts more than 40 million users and has become much more than just a way to play against other people online. The service now bears little resemblance to its original iteration, having added in a free membership tier, Avatars, achievements, video chat, web browsing, and a robust library of live and on-demand entertainment options spanning TV, sports, music, movies, and more.
While Xbox Live's success may be taken for granted today, Seamus Blackley, one of four former Microsoft employees who originally proposed the Xbox, said it wasn't always that way.
The fact that there's an Xbox seems like such a foregone conclusion now. I think it's really hard for people to understand that inside and outside of Microsoft, the idea that Microsoft would make a game console was so f***king nuts that it was just a joke.”
"There was never a notion that if Xbox Live doesn't work out, we'll just shut it down and keep selling the console as a stand-alone device. That never even occurred to us."
“I don't think the Xbox would be where it is today without Bungie and without Halo. As a group, we provided both technical and creative guidance and thought leadership that really pushed the limits. We weren't just a game developer using the service. We were integrated in the design of the service and how it worked. Systems for groups and matchmaking and skill ranking were all things that were pushed the furthest and the hardest by us.”
"It wasn't so much that I thought Xbox Live was responsible for online gaming taking off. It was going to take off anyway. What happened with Xbox was that we got it right."
“I certainly felt like there was a revolution coming in online games, but I didn't think that it had to do with a specific platform,” Blackley said. “I thought it had to do with the tastes of the audience. It wasn't so much that I thought Xbox Live was responsible for online gaming taking off. It was going to take off anyway. What happened with Xbox was that we got it right.”
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-11-15-xbox-live-turns-10
