22 November 2005 - Xbox 360 release

Digital Innovation Days

The Xbox 360 was released on the 22nd of November, 2005, to glowing reviews and stellar sales. In fact, the launch event was a wild time in itself with a Best Buy representative announcing that everyone who wanted an Xbox 360, would be able to leave with one. This happened at the “Zero Hour” event in the Mojave Desert where Microsoft launched its new Xbox.

This seventh generation video game console is the successor to the original Xbox and competed with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s wii. Although this product did not fare as well as its competitors in terms of sales and sheer numbers, the Xbox 360 was lauded for the innovation it brought to video gaming. Some of its exciting new features included the ability to stream music, videos, and movies, the inclusion of wireless controllers, and expanded hard drives. However, what was truly needed at this point and was provided by the Xbox 360 was an unparalleled level of hardware and software security in video games. In fact, Chris Satchell, an engineer for this device, claimed this box to have the levels of security that the hacker community had never seen before. Two other versions of this device were also released later; the Xbox 360 S in 2010 and the Xbox 360 E in 2013.

In 2009, the Xbox 360 became the world's best-selling video game console and by 2014, this console had sold nearly 84 million units. Also, from 2011 to 2013, the Xbox 360 held the record for the best-selling console for 24-months straight. This further tells how this device was immensely successful not only across the U.S. but Europe as well owing to its best-in-class online play at that time and strong third-party support due to easy development. In fact, with exclusive games such as Halo, even non-gamers were excitedly buying the Xbox 360.