Former Microsoft President Robbie Bach appeared on episode 500 of GamerTag Radio and shed some light on the early days of the Xbox brand, including the acquisition of Rare, the unreleased Xboy and much more.
Bach served as company President from 1988 until November 2010 and he stated that during that time the most difficult period was the launch of the original Xbox. The company only had 18 months to get the concept off the ground and according to Bach the team “didn’t work very well together.” According to his estimations Microsoft lost $5 billion USD in that period, which he attributes to his own poor management.
When it comes to Xbox Live, Bach believes it has well and truly changed the landscape of gaming. Originally supposed to launch with the console, it came out a year later because as Bach describes, the Xbox team didn’t have a real vision for it and thus wasted a lot of time.
When it came to acquiring Rare, Microsoft chose the British developer as he said it was “interested in changing their (sic) relationship away from Nintendo.” While the partnership hasn’t garnered as much success as Microsoft may have hoped, Bach says the acquisition of Bungie was hugely successful.
The rumoured, handheld Xbox companion the Xboy was a weird pitch that first came to light during the original Xbox and then again during the Xbox 360. Bach says he feels that not proceeding with the device was the right choice as he believes it was unlikely to have been a success.
Any favourite memories from the early Xbox days?
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