Former Microsoft exec. says it launched Xbox "to stop Sony"

4.5
The original Xbox console was released in 2001, but it is hasn't been known why Microsoft wanted to join in on the games industry in the first place, until now. A former Microsoft executive who recently wrote a book that slammed Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, says in a recent interview that the main reason they went into the game console industry was to "take down" their rival, Sony.

Sources report that during an interview with former Microsoft VP Joachim Kempin, he stated: "The main reason was to stop Sony. You see, Sony and Microsoft... they never had a very friendly relationship, okay?"

Although Microsoft apparently wanted to partner up with Sony, Sony always seemed to keep Microsoft at arm's length. When Sony launched the first Playstation, Joachim said that "Microsoft just looked at that and said 'well, we have to beat them, so let’s do our own.'"

He also claims that while he worked at Microsoft, he went to its PC OEM partners and asked them to make the first Xbox. He said "The guys were smart enough not to bite, because they studied the Sony model and saw that Sony could not make money on that hardware model, ever." Microsoft didn't want to to copy Sony's business model for the Xbox; make the hardware themselves, sell it at a loss and make it up with game royalties.


Posted:
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Comments

"Former Microsoft exec. says it launched Xbox "to stop Sony"" :: Login/Create an Account :: 115 comments

If you would like to post a comment please signin to your account or register for an account.

iPlayDirtyPosted:

ps3 is good but party chat done it for me the abitly to talk to people not in your game is a must!

TEIR1plus2Posted:

Treyarched
Treyarched
SRG_PuNiSheR
-Phoenix- And, Xbox as of a week ago has 75.9 Million Units sold. PS3 has 74.1 million


Xbox released a year earlier so I guess if you were to put that into account, Sony did better on this generation.


The wii was released about the same time as the PS3 and it wiped the floor with both of them when it comes to sales so your point is totally invalid.


EDIT: Oops made a mistake, Wii was out same time as PS3.

but the wii.... it kinda sucked... sorry for any wii fans but it probably had the biggest group of haters out of all three and i bet there were a lot of people who regret buying one. and then microsoft wiped the floor with the wii when they released kinect.

TEIR1plus2Posted:

Treyarched
Treyarched
SRG_PuNiSheR
-Phoenix- And, Xbox as of a week ago has 75.9 Million Units sold. PS3 has 74.1 million


Xbox released a year earlier so I guess if you were to put that into account, Sony did better on this generation.


The wii was released about the same time as the PS3 and it wiped the floor with both of them when it comes to sales so your point is totally invalid.

but the wii.... it kinda sucked... sorry for any wii fans but it probably had the biggest group of haters out of all three and i bet there were a lot of people who regret buying one. and then microsoft wiped the floor with the wii when they released kinect.

EDIT: Oops made a mistake, Wii was out same time as PS3.

PlusnetPosted:

Cruise PS3 is bad anyway.

PS4 probably will to


PS3 is actually a nice system.

bobo23Posted:

GO XBOX!!!!!!!!

TagsPosted:

XeJames In my opinion the rivalry has helped improve games consoles at a faster rate as both companies strive to out-do the other when releasing their next console. There is also Nintendo, but it seems like they're going in a different direction; kind of trying to make gaming more physical.


I agree it does make them better.

MortarPosted:

In my opinion the rivalry has helped improve games consoles at a faster rate as both companies strive to out-do the other when releasing their next console. There is also Nintendo, but it seems like they're going in a different direction; kind of trying to make gaming more physical.

Big-FootPosted:

I like both xbox and ps3.

TreyarchedPosted:

Treyarched
SRG_PuNiSheR
-Phoenix- And, Xbox as of a week ago has 75.9 Million Units sold. PS3 has 74.1 million


Xbox released a year earlier so I guess if you were to put that into account, Sony did better on this generation.


The wii was released about the same time as the PS3 and it wiped the floor with both of them when it comes to sales so your point is totally invalid.


EDIT: Oops made a mistake, Wii was out same time as PS3.

TreyarchedPosted:

SRG_PuNiSheR
-Phoenix- And, Xbox as of a week ago has 75.9 Million Units sold. PS3 has 74.1 million


Xbox released a year earlier so I guess if you were to put that into account, Sony did better on this generation.


The wii was released about the same time as the 360 and it wiped the floor with both of them when it comes to sales so your point is totally invalid.