Microsoft Dismantled a PS2 To Help Develop the First Xbox

[Kane99]

I can't say I knew about this, but I could see Microsoft doing this to learn how the PS2 worked, and how their Xbox would be able to compete. This sort of thing is probably done by many companies, especially competitors to see what their doing differently. It makes me wonder if MS did this with the PS3 or PS4. But I doubt it after they figured their system down. 

Read more on this news here - GameRant

[Justin11]

They simply wants to test run their own inventory if it outclasses that of PS series on same par with it or not. That's one of the benefits of competition it will push any company trying to do better than his or her competitor. 

[Clasher]

For any company to thrive they have to understand their competition quite well so they could know how to out perform them, I feel every company does this lol.

For now Xbox has gotten their own distinctive trademark, features and qualities that you wouldn't find on the PlayStation. So I feel they've been doing quite well as a gaming company.

[Empire]

It doesn't make sense. Xbox came 1 and half year after PS2. This means that the specs and final console design was finalized way before PS2 launched. This is not necessarily new news. One company reverse engineering another's handy work is commonplace. That being said, Sony had sent over PS2 devs to help MS get their Xbox up and running properly. This factoid came out years ago. Sony has always understood that competition is a good thing.

[Clasher]

13 minutes ago, Empire said:

It doesn't make sense. Xbox came 1 and half year after PS2. This means that the specs and final console design was finalized way before PS2 launched

That's true and they didn't want to release the console exactly the same year as the ps2 that is why they had to leave it to the next year, this doesn't mean they dismantled or copied Sony or any of that sort.

 

[Crazycrab]

Much of the technology inside these systems, especially with stuff like video output are open source or made by other third party companies anyway.  Even today XBox uses Blu-ray, a Sony patented technology.

[Kane99]

7 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

Much of the technology inside these systems, especially with stuff like video output are open source or made by other third party companies anyway.  Even today XBox uses Blu-ray, a Sony patented technology.

True, they're all licensing other parts from other companies to make their consoles/devices work. It's kinda weird to think that the Blu-Ray, a disc tech made by Sony would be in a competitors devices. 

7 hours ago, Empire said:

It doesn't make sense. Xbox came 1 and half year after PS2. This means that the specs and final console design was finalized way before PS2 launched. This is not necessarily new news. One company reverse engineering another's handy work is commonplace. That being said, Sony had sent over PS2 devs to help MS get their Xbox up and running properly. This factoid came out years ago. Sony has always understood that competition is a good thing.

I didn't know that. That's pretty cool of them. I like hearing stories like this about how these two competitors helped each other out. It's like when a superhero crosses over to another franchise or something. 

[Shagger]

19 hours ago, Kane99 said:

True, they're all licensing other parts from other companies to make their consoles/devices work. It's kinda weird to think that the Blu-Ray, a disc tech made by Sony would be in a competitors devices. 

I didn't know that. That's pretty cool of them. I like hearing stories like this about how these two competitors helped each other out. It's like when a superhero crosses over to another franchise or something. 

 

I'm sorry to break this to you, but this is not them helping each other out, it's just business. What happened was the patented high-definition disk format made to replace DVD that Microsoft backed up, the HD-DVD, failed. When it failed, Microsoft had to make a contract with Sony to provide a Blu-Ray licence for future consoles because there was no other choice. And why wouldn't Sony agree? Getting a cut of a rival's profits from a product certain to sell well into tens of millions for all the effort of signing a piece of paper? We wish we could make money that easily.

 

Another interesting thing about this, even though I doubt it factored into Sony's decision in all this, is that Sony actually know Microsoft's pain in this situation first hand. Thier rival to the VHS, Betamax, even though it remained in production until 2002, never saw even close to the kind of popularity and widespread use that VHS did. It's almost certain that Sony had to make VCR's to play VHS tapes with a licence agreement on the technology patent held by thier rival JVC, exactly how Microsoft had to for Sony's Blu-Ray.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Shagger

[The Blackangel]

There are many systems that have come and gone over the years, and many had contracts for a certain tech product through other manufacturers. It's like movie rental stores. You pay them and you get to use their technology. But eventually you have to return that technology or pay them more for it. Every company does it, and it tends to benefit both in the long run. Think about games that are ported on all gaming platforms. PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo. For example, Skyrim has been out since the PS3 era and is on every gaming platform since. I have it on PS3, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. I plan on trying to get back into it soon, but no set date.

So it's not friends helping friends. As @Shagger said, it's purely a business tactic to make more money.

All hail the almighty dollar.

🙄

[Kane99]

On 7/28/2022 at 3:26 PM, Shagger said:

 

I'm sorry to break this to you, but this is not them helping each other out, it's just business. What happened was the patented high-definition disk format made to replace DVD that Microsoft backed up, the HD-DVD, failed. When it failed, Microsoft had to make a contract with Sony to provide a Blu-Ray licence for future consoles because there was no other choice. And why wouldn't Sony agree? Getting a cut of a rival's profits from a product certain to sell well into tens of millions for all the effort of signing a piece of paper? We wish we could make money that easily.

 

Another interesting thing about this, even though I doubt it factored into Sony's decision in all this, is that Sony actually know Microsoft's pain in this situation first hand. Thier rival to the VHS, Betamax, even though it remained in production until 2002, never saw even close to the kind of popularity and widespread use that VHS did. It's almost certain that Sony had to make VCR's to play VHS tapes with a licence agreement on the technology patent held by thier rival JVC, exactly how Microsoft had to for Sony's Blu-Ray.

I didn't think of it like that, but that does make a lot more sense. I remember when hddvd failed. I almost got that hddvd addon for the 360 years back, thank goodness I didn't. 

I remember the whole betamax thing. From what I heard it was actually a better format than vhs in terms of visuals, but vhs was easier to record on I think and also allowed for longer length video than betamax did. But I could be wrong that.