Microsoft to release six-part documentary about Xbox starting December 13

Microsoft is working on a six-part documentary about Xbox consoles. Power On: The Story of Xbox is mainly about the first console, but, for example, the Red Ring of Death of the Xbox 360 is also discussed. The series also appears on YouTube.

With Power On: The Story of Xbox, Microsoft wants to tell the story of the origins of the consoles and how four gamers within Microsoft managed to do this. The trailer below shows that this was no easy task; The company was then mainly known for Windows and Office, although the company was already publishing games at the time. Despite the successful gaming branch, making and selling a console was not necessarily seen as a logical step.

However, four employees on the DirectX team, Otto Berkes, Ted Hase, Seamus Blackley and Kevin Bachus, wanted to make a console and tried to crash meetings to get attention for their project. Then CEO Steve Ballmer thought the project was “insane” and wondered what it would all cost. It is not yet revealed in the trailer how the foursome finally got him there.

In the docuseries not only the console itself passes by. Also ‘peripheral matters’ such as games and controllers are discussed. Specifically, the creation of classics such as the Halo, Gears of War and Forza series, and the Duke controller ‘which took gorilla hands’. In Power On: The Story of Xbox, attention is paid to more things that went less well, such as presentations with failing consoles and the infamous RROD of the Xbox 360.

Microsoft announced the documentary as part of the original Xbox’s twentieth anniversary. The series will be released from December 13; it’s not clear if all episodes will be released at once or if it will cost money. The series will be available on IMDbTV, Microsoft, Redbox, Roku and YouTube.