HomeWinBuzzer NewsXbox creator James Allard: “Online is the ultimate and final format”

Xbox creator James Allard: “Online is the ultimate and final format”

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Gone and almost completely forgotten, the HD-DVD player had been blamed for misleading the Xbox team from its true vision. In an interview with IGN, former key executives of Microsofts Xbox division have now shared their insights.

James Allard, former chief technology officer for the entertainment and devices division at says in the interview that when it came to the core functionality of the Xbox 360, HD-DVD distracted his team from its core beliefs as to what the gaming machine should focus on.

Allard also reveals that his team concentrated on“leading the charge in online gaming.”

“A new format for high-resolution movies was not important to us…wanted Microsoft leading the charge in online gaming. We spent a stupid amount of time on stuff like HD-DVD in response to the competition. Online is the ultimate and final format. Clearly Sony struggled with killing the sacred cow of physical media that had served them so well for a half-century. It would have been wise for Sony to make a bigger move with the PlayStation 3. This is a good example of how worrying about the competition can take you off your?game.” 

The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player had been created to contend with Sony PS3 and Blu-Ray's tandem in the battle for storage mediums. However, after only 2 years it was discontinued and considered a failure.

xbox 360 executives Microsoft ign podcast

A battle of video players in the

Sony was doing a great job in combining functions of PS3 and Blu-Ray to expand the users' gaming experience. Microsoft on the other hand, attempted to match the competition by launching a drive named after Xbox 360 that only functions as a DVD player.

The HD-DVD player was released one year after Xbox 360 first hit the market, and it was sold separately from the gaming console. The player had to be plugged in the Xbox 360, but you were not able to play any games from it.

Source: IGN

Last Updated on July 5, 2016 12:50 pm CEST by WinBuzzer

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