Microsoft stormed into the gaming industry with the original Xbox console in the early 2000s. The launch of their first console cemented them as the next rising player, but the console failed to tackle PlayStation. Everything changed for the young company with the next generation, as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 launched.

This battle of the two giants of console gaming helped establish the young American company as a major player. However, their journey toward the top wasn’t easy, as Microsoft had to fight tooth and nail against unprecedented issues.

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Video Source: Xbox

This ‘red ring of death’ turned into a billion-dollar problem for Xbox

Nobody at the American gaming studio was truly ready for the lingering issues lurking within the console. The studio had worked on an extremely tight schedule to produce the console and launch it into the market, but the design and hardware weren’t even built 9 months away from its release. Everything had to be built at an incredible pace, and unsurprisingly, problems surfaced.

The teams had to deal with numerous issues within the system prior to the launch, but another massive issue showed its ugly face post-launch. The consoles were failing to deal with the generated heat and stopped working properly because of the infamous ‘red ring of death.’ The console, instead of offering the bright green, would show a red ring, indicating something was wrong.

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The issue continued, and consoles were dying around the world. The studio had no choice but to come up with a solution and offer it to every single gamer free of cost.

Xbox’s executive, Tim Stuart, and studio’s head at the time Peter Moore took on the task. It turns out the issue would set the company back over a billion dollars.

Xbox may have won the console war of that era, but the hasty launch produced an expensive problem that cost them a fortune.

In other news, to celebrate the launch of the six-part documentary series, the studio is offering a special poster.

Xbox’s rise has been nothing short of a fairy tale in the gaming ecosystem. Facing a gaming giant in Sony and its top-end product, PlayStation, was no easy feat. The self-belief and the drive to offer the best gaming experience helped the American tech, Xbox, giant to prosper.