Xbox One — Microsoft's Third Console, Which Began With a U-Turn

The Xbox One is Microsoft's third home console. It launched in 13 markets including the US on 22 November 2013, in a single configuration with Kinect at $499.99. Japan followed about nine months later, on 4 September 2014, at ¥39,980 without Kinect and ¥49,980 with it, before tax. Japan was not among the launch markets.

Its predecessor was the Xbox 360; its successor, the Xbox Series X|S, arrived in 2020.

An "all-in-one" reveal

On 21 May 2013 Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One as a single device for games, TV and entertainment. According to the announcement it had an eight-core x86 processor and more than 5 billion transistors, a Blu-ray drive, and a new 1080p Kinect. It stressed moving between games and TV without switching inputs, and voice control, and said the console would launch later that year.

At E3 on 10 June, according to Game Informer, Microsoft said it would launch in November at $499.99, in a single configuration costing €499 in Europe and £429 in the UK.

The 19 June reversal

What caused the most argument after the reveal were the rules on owning games. As TechCrunch summed them up, Microsoft had described an automated 24-hour online check-in to keep the console playable, restrictions on whom disc games could be shared with, and region locking, and it drew a fierce reaction.

On 19 June 2013 Microsoft's Don Mattrick announced changes on Xbox Wire:

Xbox Wire also noted that the changes would affect some of the scenarios it had previously announced.

Launch, and the gap with PS4

According to Xbox Wire, the Xbox One launched in 13 markets on 22 November and sold through more than a million consoles worldwide in under 24 hours, beating the Xbox 360's first day. A week earlier, on 15 November, Sony's PlayStation 4 had launched in North America at $399.

On 13 May 2014 Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced an Xbox One without Kinect for 9 June at $399, keeping the Kinect version at $499. The Register observed that this let Microsoft compete head-to-head with the PS4 on price. Japan launched about three months later, on 4 September, with versions both with and without Kinect from the start; Microsoft Japan said in the same announcement that the Kinect sensor would also be sold separately as an accessory in autumn 2014.

No more unit sales

In October 2015 Microsoft changed how it reports the Xbox business. According to GeekWire, it stopped giving console unit sales each quarter and reported Xbox Live monthly active users instead; the first such report put the September quarter at 39 million, up 28 percent from about 30 million a year earlier. As a result, Microsoft has published no official lifetime sales figure for the Xbox One.

One S and One X

The smaller Xbox One S came in 2016. According to Xbox Wire, a limited 2 TB edition went on sale on 2 August at $399, with 1 TB and 500 GB versions at $349 and $299. Microsoft described the One S as the "first and only console" for watching Blu-ray movies and streaming video in 4K Ultra HD with HDR.

At E3 in June 2017 Microsoft unveiled the higher-end Xbox One X, which it called "the world's most powerful console", rolling out from 7 November at $499. It had a 1 TB hard drive, and all existing Xbox One games and accessories were to be compatible.

End of production

According to Video Games Chronicle, Microsoft said in July 2020 that it was discontinuing the Xbox One X and the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. In January 2022 Cindy Walker, senior director of Xbox console product marketing, told The Verge that "we stopped production for all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020", in order to focus on Xbox Series X|S.

What became of the Kinect that shipped with it is on the Kinect page; for Microsoft as a whole, see the Microsoft timeline, and for consoles, the game consoles timeline.