There's no denying the Xbox 360 was a triumphant moment for Microsoft despite still trailing the PS3 in worldwide sales. The 360 outsold the original Xbox by a huge margin, introduced groundbreaking features like Xbox Live, and positioned the Xbox brand as an enduring competitor to PlayStation.
One of the ways it managed that was building out the console's third-party repertoire, and it was during the 360 era that Xbox started really cozying up to big name partners like EA, Activision, Take Two, and Ubisoft to bring massively anticipated releases to the box.
Former Xbox veteran Peter Moore, who was instrumental to the launch of the 360, shared his insights into Microsoft's strategic positioning at the time in an interview with The Game Business.
"Microsoft, in a lot of ways, was disadvantaged in its legacy of who it was and what it makes and what services it delivers," said Moore. "But the one thing that they were and still are brilliant at is third party relations, is managing partners, whether it's Dell, HP, IBM, or whether it's Activision, EA, or Ubisoft.
Moore specifically credits Xbox's "third-party team" for "working with third parties and bringing them into the camp and asking them what they needed and how can we help."
"And that's where Microsoft was able to flex its muscles and deliver something that they were used to doing, which was third party relations, because they built platforms."
What Moore doesn't say so explicitly is money. Microsoft had a lot of it. Much more than Sony despite PlayStation's dominance in the console market at the time. Moore seemed to hint at this advantage here:
"Microsoft was a platform way before we started talking about platforms in video games. And so having developers feel good, make money on your platform was key, and Microsoft was brilliant at that. And look, it's a courtship. Who's got leverage?"
Although the Xbox of today can sometimes give off the impression that it's horribly mismanaged, especially with its fourth round of mass layoffs in 18 months still circulating in the news, but at the end of the day there is only one gaming brand with pockets big enough to buy XeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard within the space of two years. Take that how you will.
Let's get nostalgic and revisit the best Xbox 360 games ever made.
