The original Xbox was almost a free console for 'casual' gamers

Original Xbox

Microsoft's Xbox launch in 2001 marked a turning point for the home video game console market and for the game industry as a whole, but it could have gone off much differently.

Former Microsoft developer Seamus Blackley, who helped design and launch the original Xbox, and Oddworld Inhabitants' Lorne Lanning, who launch Munch's Oddysee on the Xbox in 2001, told GamesIndustry that Microsoft had considered giving the console away for free to undercut Nintendo.

"At the time, Xbox thought that the core market was going to be casual. They were going to be the casual gamers' machine," Lanning said. "Now, that's why they approached us because they said 'we think you've got something that competes in that Mario space and we think Mario's the thing to kill ... We see that space. We want that audience. We love Oddworld so why don't you get on this bandwagon? And we might give the box away'."

Blackley added that Microsoft also considered launching the Xbox as a game console but later forcing it to run Windows - a ploy to get the then-unpopular OS into homes - as well as focusing it on movies instead of games, or only letting it play internal Microsoft-developed games.

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Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.

Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.

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