Xbox

Xbox

Basic information
Founded	15 November 2001
Legal Structure	Subsidiary
Industry	Video game
Also known as
Official website	https://www.xbox.com

Xbox is a series of gaming consoles created by Microsoft since 15 November 2001.

• User Freedom: Online features require paying for an Xbox Network membership

• User privacy: Collects user data, including [insert examples here], to sell to advertisers.^[1]

• Business model: Game sales via the Microsoft Store, Xbox Network (formerly Xbox Live)/Game Pass memberships, selling user data to advertisers.^[1]

• Market control: Primarily competing against Sony's PlayStation, additionally competing against Nintendo's Switch and Valve's Steam Deck

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Xbox category.

Main article: Xbox mandatory part pairing

Main article: Advertising overload

Since the Xbox 360's third major dashboard redesign, the dashboards featured advertisements for various products to the user,^[2][3][4] regardless of if they were paying for a subscription on the console. The Xbox 360 dashboard received an update in June 2025, which added advertisements for the Xbox Series models.^[5]

There are various peripherals that have been released under the Xbox brand, which were deprecated and left unable to be used or retrofitted by the end user to prolong its usage.

Main article: Xbox One Kinect

When the Xbox One line initially released on 22 November 2013, it came with a Kinect model that is only compatible with the Xbox One due to using an archaic custom cable standard. The device was additionally mandatory on older OS versions for the console.^[6][7] Due to a lack of support from third-party developers, coupled with a lack of viable home-brew development for the hardware, Microsoft deprecated the Xbox One Kinect in 2016.^[8] The company would provide users with an adapter for the Kinect for roughly two years after the device stopped production, which would allow the end user to connect the Kinect to their Xbox One S^[9] and X^[10] models, however later models such as the Series X/S would be unable to interface with the Kinect regardless of the USB-A adapter.^[11]

Initially when the Xbox One released, it was designed to support standard television features and, for an additional charge, users could purchase a TV tuner peripheral to access free cable channels. In 2021, with the removal of OneGuide TV, this peripheral became incompatible with all Xbox One and Series consoles.^[12]

On 12 November 2023, Microsoft disabled support for third-party accessories on Xbox One and Series consoles.^[13] Any accessories not deemed "authorized" by Microsoft when plugged into the console will give the user the following error message on their screen:^[14]

A connected accessory is not authorized. Using unauthorized accessories compromises your gaming experience. For this reason, the unauthorized accessory will be blocked from use on 11/12/2023.

For help returning it, check with the store it came from or contact the manufacturer. To see authorized accessories, go to

www.xbox.com/accessories

. (0x82d60002).

The intent of this ban was to stop individuals using third-party peripherals which would allow users to cheat in games,^[15] however this blanket ban has resulted in legitimate consumer peripherals breaking for the console,^[16][17] as well as limiting peripheral competition on the Xbox One/Series models to the companies willing to pay Microsoft to have their hardware approved for the platform. Users of accessibility peripherals have notably shown backlash,^[18][19] since this change locks down accessibility controller options solely to the Xbox Adaptive Controller.

Users expecting to expand the storage on Xbox Series X/S models have only two options — an external hard drive connected via USB 3.2 or a proprietary storage expansion card.^[20][21] Games for Xbox One and Xbox 360 can be run on the external hard drives for Series X/S, but any game meant for Xbox Series X can only be stored on external hard drives and cannot be run without being transferred to internal storage or an expansion card.^[20][21]

It is to be expected that due to the blocking of third-party accessories,^[13][14] any affordable alternatives will not release on the market.

Storage in any XBOX and other devices will inevitably fail. With previous gen (XBOX ONE) consoles, this wasn't an issue. When such failure occured, you only had to purchase new 2,5" drive (HDD/SSD 500-1000GB) install the drive and perform offline system update (OSU (Archived)) after which your console was fully functional again.

This has changed with the new generation (Series S/X) consoles. where swappable nvme SSD's are used. The problem is, these SSD's contain hidden partition with encrypted hardware key marrying the SSD to the board.^[22]

It is possible, to clone the SSD and create a backup. However with each update the key is changed, and you'll have to create a new backup. If you don't create a backup, and the SSD fails, it can sometimes remain clonable, this is not a guarantee, and more often than not, the data is simply lost.

No official tool is available to recreate said partition. Only XBOX themselves can repair your device. For out of warranty service by XBOX, you'll have to pay a repair fee wich costs as much as whole new working console.

Failed SSD renders the console unusable, effectively making e-waste out of devices that would otherwise be perfectly functional.

• Xbox
• Xbox 360
  • 360 Elite
  • 360 S
  • 360 E ("Winchester")
• Xbox One
  • One S
  • One X
• Xbox Series
  • Series X
  • Series S

• ROG Xbox Ally
  • Ally X

• Kinect
• Xbox Wireless Controller

Companies

• Nintendo
• Sony
• Microsoft

Consoles

• PlayStation
• Nintendo Switch