Xbox Was to Be Start of "Second Microsoft," Former Exec Says

As part of a wide-ranging interview with GamesTM, former Xbox executive J Allard talks extensively about the Xbox 360's recent 10-year anniversary. One of the featured quotes is about how Allard said he saw the Xbox brand as a "starting point for a second Microsoft," one that had a more Apple-like focus on "consumers, entertainment, and artists." This didn't end up really happening, and that's disappointing, he said.

"Xbox was always an interesting beast within Microsoft’s culture from the get-go," he said. "Microsoft had a very rich history and success with productivity, developers and enterprise, but very little depth with consumers, hardware, retail, or games. The part of Xbox that was very Microsoft was the platform element--the idea that Microsoft would do the heavy lifting to build a terrific foundation for developers to build on top of, but a lot of the program was very different than Microsoft's culture.

"In many ways, I thought about Xbox as the starting point for a second Microsoft--a company totally focused on consumers, entertainment, and artists. There was certainly a lot of pioneering, or cowboy culture, ingrained in Xbox, but its soul was very Microsoft in terms of building an awesome platform for creators to do amazing work."

Allard, who no longer works for Microsoft, said he was "disappointed that [Xbox] didn't become more for Microsoft than it did," but acknowledged that the Xbox brand is undoubtedly a success story for the company.

"But I had always hoped it could be a launchpad for a consumer-minded platform, brand and set of products and services that complemented the productivity and Windows side of the business," he said. "Apple has done tremendously well with its focus on consumers, media, consumption, and non-PC form factors.

"There was always the tension and appetite internally to try and twist Xbox into something that could help Windows be more successful. I always believed that being a smash hit for the company and building new muscles around consumer, entertainment, media and artistry was the best way to help Windows," he added. "It always felt like asking Windows to serve Xbox and Xbox to adopt Windows was a recipe to slow two great teams down and complicate two otherwise really clear businesses with different objectives."

You can read the full GamesTM interview here.

For more on the Xbox 360's legacy, check out GameSpot's feature: "How Xbox 360 Dominated a Decade."