Up until 2000 there was a large distinction between console games and PC games, but with the upcoming release of the PlayStation 2 that line became blurred and Microsoft feared gamers would be drawn to the new console and away from PC gaming. To counter this a team at Microsoft began work on a DirectX based game console dubbed the “DirectX Box” and on November 15th, 2001 the Xbox was released.
The successor to the Xbox, the Xbox 360, was released in November of 2005, however Microsoft continued production of the original Xbox until early 2007. Even after the system was discontinued third party publisher support continued until August 12th, 2008, when Madden NFL 09 was released as the final game on the system. An estimated 24 million Xbox consoles have been sold worldwide.