Founding Xbox Member Says Her Early Skepticisms Are Coming True

Laura Fryer was one of the first members of Microsoft Games Studios in the 1990s and served as a producer on games such as Crimson Skies. She says she helped build the very first Xbox but remained a major skeptic: “My thinking at the time was that Windows was already the dominant gaming platform with over 90% of PCs running it… I felt like we were abandoning the most successful gaming platform in the world for a risky bet that we weren’t ready for.” Fryer admits there was initial bitterness as Xbox drew attention from her existing platforms, including the Internet Gaming Zone, and she worried about how Microsoft would fit into a hardware market built on established supply chains and the ability to absorb losses with game sales and licensing.

Those fears eased once Xbox found its footing, with online features and hits such as Halo, Fable and Gears of War — the last of which Fryer was executive producer on. Today, Fryer says some of those early concerns have returned as Xbox faces serious challenges.

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