November 15th is a date of significance to the gaming community. The day marks the release of the first Xbox console in North America in 2001. Microsoft and its Xbox have vastly shaped and influenced video games ever since. To celebrate the 15th birthday of its console, the tech giant are holding up a week of events and special unlockable content on some of its most prestigious titles.
Forza Horizon 3 is gifting all players a special Ford F-150 Raptor 4×4, sporting Xbox 15th anniversary colors. VIP members also receive the truck, but in alternate custom livery. The Forza team have also set up two special Rival Events. One for Forza Motorsport 6 and one for Forza Horizon 3, the latter also giving players a special Bucket List Challenge, which can be found by travelling to the Pink Lakes Bucket List Point in the game.
The 343 Industries is also offering players a chance to commemorate the console’s birthday. If players log in to Halo 5: Guardians between now and the 22nd of November at 10am PT, they will be presented with a free “15th Anniversary REQ Pack.” This will contain a consumable item for Warzone game modes, as well as some legendary armor worn by Spartan IIs during “the darkest hours of the Covenant War.”
On the day itself there were several streaming events. 343 and Bungie starred in a special Twitch and Beam live stream, where they shared some fond Halo memories as well as gameplay alongside a few of the community influencers. Players could also join the Club named “Celebrate 15 Years of Xbox” or “Halo” for their chance to go multi-player against members of the Xbox and Halo teams. Forza also showcased some talented performances via Beam, in case you were unable to get on to your Xbox live account for whatever reason, to take part in the gaming.
The difference that the Microsoft Xbox has had on the modern world cannot be understated. Just a few of the choice statistics that Microsoft share on its Anniversary celebration page demonstrate how big the community is.
- Number of players: 222,468,423
- Number of total gaming hours: 100,539,390,670
- Number of total multiplayer hours: 29,000,304,183
- Number of Xbox Live friendships made: 4,233,891,482
As fans of the console, we hope that the next decade and a half will provide us with plenty more superb titles, cutting edge technology and influential gaming communities.