But Blackley’s concept of consolizing a PC to allow Microsoft’s new Xbox project to enjoy the standardization of console hardware but also the tools of PC development was enough to give Gates the confidence to enter what would be a new market for the tech giant. Sony was already talking publicly about the development of what would eventually become the PlayStation 2, Sega was well on their way to putting an end to the Saturn and moving on to the Dreamcast, and Nintendo’s GameCube loomed large on the horizon.
Moving into an already overcrowded market was going to be difficult. After working hard to convert his peers to the cause and being the squeakiest wheel at Microsoft, Blackley got a meeting with Bill Gates. Blackley’s idea was simple: build a console using PC components. Supporting hundreds of different PC configurations and choosing what hardware would not be supported has naturally always complicated game development. On PC, developers were forced to build their games to be scalable. On consoles, developers knew the exact hardware that the consumers had access to and were, therefore, able to optimize their games to that hardware. The reason that consoles were capable of delivering similar visuals and performance to PCs was because of the standardization of hardware. Having worked in game development before and now working on the biggest game development platform in the world, Blackley was intimately familiar with the shortcomings of the PC platform. On that flight, while tinkering with a brand-new laptop for which he was very excited, Blackley was struck with an idea. In the late 1990s, a Microsoft Direct X engineer and former Looking Glass Studios designer Seamus Blackley was on a flight from Boston Massachusetts to Redmond Washington. Despite nearly constantly fighting an uphill battle, for twenty years the Xbox has endured feast and famine and through sheer force of will, Microsoft has forced themselves into an indispensable position in the modern gaming landscape. Through the highs of becoming the best place to play western RPG’s and their current renaissance, and the lows of the red ring of death and a disastrous launch for the Xbox One, Microsoft’s console is home to millions of gamers around the world. Armed with a PC gamers perspective, the initial Xbox team, led by Seamus Blackley, was able to launch a line of gaming consoles catered to the most hardcore crowd. Where Sega failed and Nintendo chose a different path, Microsoft and the Xbox have dared to go toe to toe with Sony’s PlayStation. Let’s Celebrate the Xbox 20th Anniversary
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