Ed Fries led the team at Microsoft that launched the first Xbox in 2001. Now, a quarter century later, he’s opening up about the early days of Xbox. Specifically, he discusses how some companies sought to prevent monopolies in the 2000s but had to be cautious about the level of support they gave the new challenger.
Xbox is a staple of the gaming industry today, but in 2001, it was anything but. With Sega having recently exited the console race and less than a decade separating the launch of the Xbox from the failure of platforms like the 3DO and the Philips CDi, it wasn’t clear that computer giant Microsoft would succeed in the video game space.
Ed Fries Recalls Visits with Japanese Companies
During an appearance on The Expansion Pass, Ed Fries noted that the Final Fantasy franchise was a missed opportunity for Xbox and that he tried to get the popular JRPG series to become exclusive to Microsoft Hardware. However, Square Enix would have been leaving too much money on the table.
Furthermore, Fries discussed conversations he had with Japanese game development companies, including Square Enix, Capcom, Konami, and Tecmo. When talking about Square, he noted that certain conversations were always difficult because Square wanted Sony to face competition, but they weren’t allowed to be too overt in their support for the new Microsoft console.
“I would go out to Japan fairly regularly and meet with Konami, meet with Capcom, meet with Square, meet with Sega, and some of them, we were able to do deals with some of them, but we weren’t with others. They were able to do some deals, after I left, with Square, but it was always a tough discussion because they wanted Sony to have competition and wouldn’t be too overt in their support for Xbox. They couldn’t make it too obvious that they were supporting Xbox.
Additionally, he noted that Tecmo did Dead or Alive games on Xbox to send a subtle message to Sony.
“They did it, kind of, to tweak Sony because they wanted Sony to have competitors because otherwise they’re a monopoly and monopolies, you know, just do whatever they want.”
Today, Xbox-published titles are on Sony hardware. Even though Xbox is still a console manufacturer, it has found great success porting its titles to PlayStation. Asha Sharma, the current Microsoft gaming CEO, believes the Xbox brand can return to prominence by focusing on hardcore Xbox gamers. Learn more here.
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OG Xbox was best era. Best logo and marketing also actual exclusives unlike now or even 360. This is who shout run Xbox again not the last few people. Even ex-PlayStation people would be perfect like Andrew House just not Jim Ryan.
They didn’t. There was Nintendo and the PC with all of it’s storefronts. Xbox problem was it never maintained a distinct identity. Sony is the big epic action games and Nintendo was the prime home of east Asian games and culture. Xbox should have become the powerful western identity. The company they should have bought out is Rockstar early on. GTA and Red Dead are so deeply rooted in American culture. Bethesda with Fallout along with Elder Scrolls and these massive Euro-centric mythology based rpgs would have been a great fit alongside the eastern Asian jrpg style and they would have been distinct on Xbox and PC. Instead they immediately tried to be everything to everyone which is exactly how you never become something interesting yourself. It’s a shame, they were certainly set up to come into the industry like a storm, but they squandered it and unless they have some absolute mind blowing games coming out with the new console, it’s probably too late for them. Bethesda is in a similar boat. ES6 could be amazing, but the ill will BGS has racked up since after Skyrim is almost impressive in it’s scope and consistency so if ES6 is a flop that’s probably it for that storied studio as well.