Xbox’s Downfall - How Microsoft Fumbled An Entire Generation

The current state of the console gaming market is quite interesting to see. Even dating back all the way back to the 80s and 90s, it has been largely dominated by between two and three big companies in terms of console hardware, and aside from Nintendo being the only real constant since the release of the NES back in 1983, we’ve seen big players come and go. More recent events have indicated that Microsoft, a company that enjoyed quite a dominant position in the industry during the late 2000s, might also be facing a major downturn in its Xbox division. This is in large part down to major stumbles made by corporate leadership, mixed messaging with some of its console releases, and a failure to provide any real reason to opt for an Xbox these days over any other console. To understand more recent events that might have led to this, however, it is worth going back all the way to the beginning, to look at why Microsoft decided to enter the gaming market, and what road the company has taken since then.