Since Microsoft released the Xbox One back in 2013, the company has only sold about 20 million units. The number of units sold is just speculation seeing as Microsoft has no intention to release numbers at this time.
However, we do know the company was planning to sell 200 million units, but plans fell through.
GameSpot reported that head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, had revealed that before the release of the Xbox One, the intention was to sell 200 million units, a number that no other video game console has managed to meet.
Sony in the past has sold over 150 million PlayStation 2 units, but no other system released after that console came close, so we're quite surprised the team was aiming so far.
"The goal that the team had was to figure out how could we sell 200 million game consoles," Spencer explained. "We've never seen a console sell that many units. The biggest individual console, the PS2, did 120 million or something like that."
According to Spencer, the team was counting on the media features to push the Xbox One into 200 million-units-sold realm. For those who are unaware, Microsoft added a bunch of TV capabilities to the Xbox One, a move that some believed was one of the reasons the console failed in the first place.
Microsoft was so invested in this idea that it created the Xbox Entertainment Studios. This division would have been tasked with creating TV and film content for the console, similar to how Netflix creates original programming for its own service.
When it came down to launch day, the company made a bold move, which turned out to be a mistake. It focused more on the media features rather than what it can bring to the table where gaming is concerned.
The Xbox One was also home to some draconian always-online features, and Sony took advantage of that situation to push its own system forward. Not to mention, the PlayStation 4 was more powerful than the Xbox One and came in at $100 less.
One could say the console wars ended in 2013, and the Xbox One never recovered fully. Spencer was brought in to right the wrongs, something he has been doing quite well. The Xbox One S and several changes, such as Xbox Play Anywhere, should be a sign of how much Microsoft has changed since 2013.
With Project Scorpio in the pipeline, we are expected to learn of other plans that could keep things going in the right direction. Scorpio is intended to bring true 4K gaming to the masses, or just to those who can afford a 4K TV.
Microsoft might not be willing to share numbers on the amount of Xbox One consoles sold, but the company is not shying away from revealing that 400 million systems are currently powered by Windows 10.
