What Convinced You To Pick Xbox In The First Place?

Was it the games? The hardware? The marketing? Tell us!

We’re fast approaching the 25th anniversary of Xbox (look out for it November 2026!), and over the past couple of decades, the brand has racked up millions of fans who have spent thousands on consoles, games and more.

It might be a fairly short history all things considered, but so much has happened in that time. Each of the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S eras have come with their own ups and downs, from major successes like the release of Halo and the glory days of the Xbox 360 library, to the Red Ring of Death and the botched Xbox One launch.

TedZanzibar,

Nothing on the PS2 was compelling enough for me to buy one at the time, and I found the dualshock’s stick layout uncomfortable. Then Xbox came along with Halo and that was that, really.

The PS3 was overpriced and underwhelming while the 360 knocked it out of the park. Still my favourite console ever.

Then the Xbox One and PS4 happened… Yeah, MS ballsed up the messaging and then floundered even more every time they tried to re-explain their ideas, but I honestly think the whole put-the-disc-in-once licensing thing was ahead of its time. The people claiming that they couldn’t possibly connect their console to the internet for 2 minutes every month to refresh their licences were being disingenuous, and Sony’s “this is how you share games on PS4” bit, while understandable from the free marketing perspective, just came across to me as both short sighted and incredibly mean spirited.

Since then I’ve been team Xbox by default, but they’ve never really recovered from the shit show that was the Xbox One launch and it’s a shame.

AlexanderTheGreat,
@AlexanderTheGreat@lemmy.world avatar

Fucking loved the first and second game. Fell off in the last few. Not bad games. Just a different feel.

zipzoopaboop,

Dead rising.

Katana314,

I enjoyed Game Pass already on my PC - I even subbed to it when it was strictly “Console game pass” and so happened to give PC access to a few crossplay titles. I ended up taking someone’s used, dusty Xbox One just to get into some of the console-only games. Later, I upgraded to a Series S since I figured my whole Xbox library was digital and I didn’t own a 4KTV.

But, my enjoyment of Game Pass was reliant on sudden surprise hits like Hi-Fi Rush. So, now that they’re firing the people making games like that, I’m probably done as they’re moving a different direction from what I want.

Lautaro,

I’ve had both (Playstation and Xbox) since the 360. I’m lucky enough that I’m able to buy both, but I like Xbox more, several reasons:

  • I like the controller layout more (although Dualsense’s adaptive triggers are awesome)
  • MS has regional prices in Argentina, so most games are dirt cheap
  • I love Gears of War, not really into Halo.

Having said that, I still get the Playstation because of the exclusives (God of War, Last of Us, and Gran Turismo, that’s it). Also, since I got the One S and the PS4 during the previous era, I also purchased games that simply weren’t good enough in the Xbox (like Tekken 7). Fixed that error this time and got me a Series X.

therealjcdenton,

PS5’s were out of stock lol

Nomecks,

My parents got rid of one of those giant old cabinet TVs and we needed something equally as giant to replace it. LOL XBOX IS HUEG!

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/33f3383c-7f2c-4ca4-95ec-1ffdc2dd7315.jpeg

Defaced,

Picked up a series S from GameStop online because it was the only thing in stock. Thing is, I love really powerful hardware in small form factors, but the series S really shows the cracks in Microsoft’s plans IMO. It’s very clear the series S is supposed to be the gamepass console, problem is gamepass quality has been steadily dropping over time and Microsoft buying up companies makes a ton of sense since they haven’t had any major releases other than Forza.

I haven’t touched the series S in probably months. My kids have been playing it quite a bit for games like the Sims and super Lucky’s tale. Everything else can be played on PC, my ps5 or my stream deck so I have no need of it anymore. Not to mention the streaming quality for me on PS5 is just better than XCloud, and that’s just a bonus.

I’ve said it before, Jim Ryan was correct when he said publishers don’t like gamepass and it’s bad for the industry. When I look at the quality of ps plus vs gamepass, it’s clear PlayStation really thinks of it as a supplemental service than a major revenue stream, but doing it that way drives the need to have more quality features and games vs just letting every and any game on your service.

CM400,

I don’t know why, but I could not stand Gran Turismo 4. I loved the first three and preordered 4, but within a week I was at GameStop trading in my PlayStation for an Xbox. I honestly don’t know what about it pissed me off so much, but I haven’t looked back.

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Halo.

I was skeptical… “Hey, other than Solitaire and Minesweeper, what does Microsoft know about games?”

Then I had hands on with a Halo demo station at a game store.

“Shut up and take my money!”

Z3k3,

Beating the scalpers

During the hight of covid I became obsessed with beating the scalpers and managed to get both the series x and ps5 at retail

3aqn5k6ryk,

Gamepass. My first xbox was series x. It was fun while it lasted until they forced full screen ads. Sold the xbox a couple days later and sold my xbox account since it still has a gamepass subs. Bought a PS5 a while later. I cant stand ads, it ruins everything. The moment sony introduced ads, im going back to PC.

misk,
@misk@sopuli.xyz avatar

Series X is my first Xbox after lifetime with Sony and Nintendo. There are barely any new games on next gen consoles so I’m using this opportunity to catch up with Xbox back catalog. Backwards compatibility is so nice that I ended up doing unexpected playthrough of Final Fantasy XIII among some other oldies. I also ended up doing loads of split screen gaming with my gf - started with Halo but we’re on second BG3 playthrough (after going back to Divinity 1&2).

Donut,

We had Nintendo consoles and then I visited a friend who had Far Cry. I was so impressed by the mechanics and details (shooting enemies from under floors, sneaking around like Rambo) that I went home and basically started browsing second hand Xbox consoles to be able to play myself ASAP.

In the end, I found a cheap Xbox with about 25 games, including Halo, Fuzion Frenzy, Burnout 3, Fable, and so on. The original owner even accidentally left Ninja Gaiden in the console, so I was introduced to that gem on a whim! So lucky.

I did buy the X360 a bit later in the cycle but after that I was content with a high end gaming PC combined with Wii U. Nowadays I have a PS5, gaming PC and Switch, covering almost all libraries to be able to pick whatever I want to play.

This shouldn’t be surprising considering most Xbox games are available to play on PC right now. No need to buy an Xbox anymore.

pushECX,

Halo. And it seemed to me at the time that Xbox had more FPS titles and such.

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