The first year of Xbox One - Part One

A starting anything but positive

Before its sale, partly because of XboxReveal the Xbox One was already suffering from a poor image among players because of his vanguard choices about DRM implementation within the console, the mandatory connection and concerns vis-à-vis Kinect and respect for privacy. Aware of the discontent on the part of players, probably cooled by the relatively low number of pre-orders, Microsoft will make a complete change of political and return to these decisions. If the announcement of the withdrawal of anti-DRM occasion, the mandatory connection was made on 19 June 2013, together with the zoning of the console, they are still in the collective mind and stick to the Xbox one as a dirty, wet T-shirt. The sound is also shorter than the initial choices are responsible for some remaining problems such as installation time can be a little breadsticks on certain games (up to hours with a standard ADSL connection)

To provide a machine more in line with the times, Microsoft's make up for it with a large number of updates and by involving the community in the heart of the process (see next page for details).

A partial launch and in pain

The arrival of the Xbox One, 22 November 2013, has not benefited everyone. Indeed, unlike its rival PS4 will come out around the world, only 21 selected countries will have benefited from the Microsoft machine in 2013. The others will have to wait for months before seeing it happen officially.

The excuse to offer a better experience for some countries, Microsoft released the machine almost a year later, in September 2014, in 29 new regions (including Japan). The Xbox One, taking advantage of the lifting of the travel ban consoles, also landed in China at the end of September, while Argentina just got a release date, scheduled for early December

At the time of writing his lines, the Xbox One is available in most countries was once sold the Xbox 360.

Sales short of competition

Because, ultimately, the success (commercial) of a console is measured by sales, the latest figures from Microsoft show 10 million shipped machines, ie sold to retailers (stores video games, specialized stores). The number of consoles sold to the final consumer remains unknown in this equation, while the latest figures dropped by Sony, themselves, show 13.5 million PlayStation 4 sold to the public. Sales of Xbox One is even more difficult to estimate than the manufacturer likes to combine with those of its big brother, the Xbox 360, simply speaking of 'Xbox' at large.

Given the drop in prices and the Kinect ablation, Xbox One has become a bit more competitive even if the rule of the PS4 remains indisputable. The balance of power in the world is estimated at 2 against 1. Two PS4 sold for Xbox One. The PS3 has shown, in the previous generation, the console war is more a matter of endurance than anything else but Microsoft's console remains still currently in a weak position. As for sales trends, it remains to be seen, as they say in England. Anyway, Microsoft, like its Japanese branch, do not throw in the towel. Lower prices, particularly in English-speaking countries, multiply, and tempting offers are legion.


Reliability up from the previous generation.

Although they remain a minority and isolated cases, the Xbox One has had some small reliability issues during its first year, as every electronic product that respects himself. In the case of the Xbox One, he was a high-pitched sound that seemed to come from within the console when it is on the dashboard. This problem was mainly present in models sold without Kinect (and caused by the absence of the latter). This problem has been corrected by the update of October.

Apart from that, contrary to the Xbox 360 in its first years, the Xbox One has a very good reliability, thanks to its massive dissipation system, a spacious enclosure and power supply.