The Xbox is a sixth generation video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed directly with Sony's PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia. It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.
The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch titles was Halo: Combat Evolved which was critically well received[13] and was the best-selling Xbox game of the year for 4 years running. Halo still remains one of the console's standout titles,[citation needed] and its sequel, Halo 2, is the best-selling Xbox game worldwide. Halo 2 had a long reign as the most played game on the Xbox Live service, until November 13, 2006, when the Xbox 360 title Gears of War claimed the top spot.[citation needed] Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3. However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy and Azurik: Rise of Perathia) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox.
Although the console enjoyed strong third party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not take full advantage of its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox's main selling points. Lastly, Sony countered the Xbox for a short time by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (although they were later ported to the Xbox and are no longer exclusive).
In 2004, Halo 2 set records as the highest-grossing release in entertainment history making over $125 million in its first day, as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal that would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live.
