Gaming

Xbox’s alternate names were an absolute disaster

The system's original codename stuck, and with these options, it's no surprise as to why.

The Xbox, on its 20th anniversary, is truly thriving thanks to huge hits like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite, but also due to the success of Xbox Game Pass and accessibility initiatives. The brand has put the missteps of the Xbox One generation firmly in the rearview mirror.

It’s hard to imagine that the console would have gotten much of anywhere without its simplistic and yet evocative name, the “X” referring to the DirectX software backbone that inspired the system itself. Unlike nearly every hardware product before and since, the Xbox team stuck to the original internal codename for the device, and it’s easy to see why — the alternatives were mindbogglingly bad.

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