Xbox design engineer reveals Microsoft’s betrayal of AMD 20 years ago

Next month is also the 20th anniversary of the first Xbox console, the device that launched Microsoft’s popular gaming console. With an Intel Pentium III processor clocked at 733 MHz, this Xbox is more powerful than other competitors in the gaming console market. But what few people know is that according to the original design, this Xbox should have used a different AMD processor.

It is understandable how disappointed AMD engineers were when they saw their months of development being “turned around” by Microsoft at the last minute. That’s why yesterday, the designer of this famous gaming machine apologized to AMD’s engineers as well as their CEO for this.

Seamus Blackley’s apology also shows who is responsible for this – none other than Intel.

” As we near the 20th anniversary of the Xbox launch, it’s once again imperative that I apologize, literally, to the AMD engineers who helped us make this possible. models – sat in the front row at the launch and had to witness the Intel CPU swap. It was Andy calling Bill. Not me. @LisaSu. I begged for forgiveness .”

” I was on stage at that presentation, with BillG, and they were right there, in the front row, with a sad look on their faces. I’ll never forget that. They helped us a lot. to get those prototypes. The models used in that product launch actually run on AMD HARDWARE .”

” I feel like an asshole .”

Andy is mentioned in the tweet as Andy Grove, the CEO of Intel at the time. Bill here is Bill Gates. It can be seen that it was Intel who “cut the upper hand” of AMD at the last minute when after just one call, AMD’s collaborative development effort disappeared. That’s why Blackley calls the transition ” purely political “.

Sadly for AMD engineers when they had to see it happening right in front of their eyes, right on the stage showing machines running on AMD processors but sold with Intel chips.

However, until now AMD’s processors have almost monopolized the handheld gaming line when present on both Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 today. That’s not to mention AMD’s dominance over Intel in today’s desktop processor market as well as the server chip market.

Despite the ongoing global chip crisis that could last through 2022, AMD posted a profit of $710 million in its most recent quarter – a 352% increase from the same period last year.

Refer to Kotaku