Xbox One: The First Three Months

A solid start, with plans for the future.

A little over three months ago, Microsoft's Xbox One launched in 13 territories. It sold one million units in 24 hours, and since then, it's been supported with a handful of good games.
Console launches often come with a plethora of games, sales figures, and other info, so we're sorting through the clutter and taking a look back at what the Xbox One accomplished in its first three months on the market. Plus, we discuss what Xbox One owners can expect in 2014.
Curious about Sony too? Check out our feature on the first three months of the PlayStation 4.

Games

Having only been on the market for three months, a small but strong collection of exclusive games is already available for the Xbox One. But unless you're interested in more niche genres, you may not know it. Our favorites include:

• Dead Rising 3
• Forza Motorsport 5
• Killer Instinct
• Peggle 2

Forza Motorsport 5 Video Review

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As with the PlayStation 4, there were great cross-platform releases -- like Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag -- that, while great, are really just the better looking versions of their last-gen counterparts. They're not bad games at all, but they're not drastically different from versions we can play on current-gen consoles.
We've also seen a few flops. Fighter Within earned a 2.7 in our review, which reads: "Its gesture recognition is abysmal, its fighting is shallow, and it wastes too much time trying to clumsily tell a silly, unnecessary story." Crimson Dragon, Zoo Tycoon, and even the venerable Halo (the port of Spartan Assault) earned mediocre marks.
Ryse: Son of Rome also deserves a special shout out. Though we weren't wild about some of its repetitive gameplay, the Xbox One launch game looked fantastic. NBA 2K14 also approached the bar of photorealism, with highly-detailed athletes and fluid animations. Considering the graphical improvements we saw throughout the Xbox 360's lifespan (remember the launch titles Call of Duty 2 and Kameo: Elements of Power?), we should expect even better looking games if the Xbox One follows the same trajectory.

Ryse: Son of Rome Review

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Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and the recent Titanfall beta started the Xbox One off on the right foot for 2014. Garden Warfare is a good shooter on its own, but the laugh-out-loud Plants vs. Zombies humor sets it apart from others in its genre. As for Titanfall? We liked that too. See below:

78 Epic Titanfall Moments in 4 Minutes

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Looking ahead, we put together a list of 25 Xbox One games to play in 2014. Bungie, CD Projekt, BioWare, Lionhead, Insomniac, and several others developers all have games coming down the pipeline. Titanfall and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes are in the first wave of releases, as they'll come out on March 11 and March 18, respectively.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Nighttime Infiltration Trailer

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The Hardware

IGN reviewed the Xbox One, giving it a good score of 7.8. We enjoyed the voice commands, quick multitasking, and excellent controller, but took issue with the lack of gameplay streaming and non-intuitive user interface.
"Xbox One is an exciting entry into the new generation of home consoles that improves on the Xbox 360 in many ways," we said. "It offers a broader set of home entertainment features than its closest rival, the PlayStation 4. But it's also ($100) more expensive, and because it can't parse natural language, it'll force you to learn its specific vocabulary of commands in order to take advantage of its interface."

Xbox One Video Review

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Those of you who owned an Xbox 360 earlier in its life might have come across dreaded hardware issues signaled by console freezes, graphical issues, and, of course, the "red ring of death." For consoles developed in the initial batch, failure rates were estimated to be over 40%. It's reasonable, then, that consumers grew worried when early Xbox One units began to have issues reading discs. One of IGN's units was affected by the problem. You can see (and hear) it in the video below.

Xbox One's Scary Disc Drive Problem

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To its credit, Microsoft was prompt to create solutions to repair or replace broken consoles. It also offered a free digital copy of Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, or Zoo Tycoon to anyone affected. Because the copies were digital, they could still be played on a system with a faulty disc drive.
"While a replacement console is on the way, we want to ensure our advance exchange customers can stay in the game," Microsoft said.

Users With Broken Xbox Ones Getting A Free Game

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Some users also reported the "E100" notification, indicating a total hardware failure caused by an update error. Other has issues powering on the console. These issues with new technology -- especially $500 technology -- are always an unfortunate hassle for the consumer. But the problems are nowhere near as widespread as those that plagued the Xbox 360, and when they arise, Microsoft has, so far, done a fine job of helping its customers.
Microsoft released a system update for the Xbox One on February 14 that focuses on the user interface and data management. The "My Games and Apps" section is better organized and more intuitive. USB keyboards are now supported, and battery charge is now indicated for controllers. There's also a big social update coming in March. Microsoft's CPO, Marc Whitten, said "The feedback we've gotten is pretty valid. Some of the social stuff is hidden or harder to use than it was on the Xbox 360. So you're gonna see us come out with an update where we're going to fix those things."

Xbox One March Update: Party and Friends

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Sales

Before the end of 2013, Microsoft revealed over three million Xbox One units had been sold worldwide. Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing, strategy, and business for Xbox, announced the number in a blog post on Xbox Wire.
"Over 3 million Xbox One consoles were sold to consumers in 13 countries before the end of 2013," Mehdi wrote. "It's been incredible to see Xbox One selling at a record-setting pace for Xbox..."
Microsoft didn't reveal its hardware numbers for January, presumably because the PS4 lead US hardware sales in January -- a reversal from the previous month. Instead, it focused on Microsoft's game attach rate of 2.7 games per console, and the "740 million hours of fun" players had since launch.

Xbox One Sales Pass 3 Million Worldwide

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The Xbox One sold one million units worldwide in 24 hours. After 18 days, Microsoft's new console had sold two million units. This number exceeds the Xbox 360's launch. Microsoft also released some fun stats for some of its big games. Within 24 hours, players:

• Drove 3.6 million miles in Forza Motorsport 5
• Killed 60 million zombies in Dead Rising 3
• Pulled off 7.1 million combos in Killer Instinct
• Slaughtered 8.5 million enemies in Ryse: Son of Rome

Strong Xbox One sales contributed to a new record for revenue in 2013: $24.52 billion, which is over $3 billion greater than the same period in 2012. The PlayStation 4 also enjoyed a strong 5.3 million sales, boosting Sony's game division revenue. The takeaway? Console gaming is alive and well.

EA Predicts PS4 and Xbox One Launch Sales

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It's easy to get bogged down with all the numbers we constantly hear from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, so we took an in-depth look at what those sales numbers mean, how all the next-gen systems compare, and how strong their system launches really were.