Papacheeks
Banned
I think you've got a story you want to tell, and you're working backwards from there.
I watched that Xbox documentary and it looked like the OG Xbox guys held the system together on stage with duct tape. Halo was at E3 at 10 fps, and was a mess until the day it launched. All the Xbox "management" did at that point was demand that it be ready at system launch, and then cross their fingers. They didn't really have any other first party games, and the rest was all exclusives they paid for. They famously passed on GTA III though.
During 360, they innovated on services really well. Live, arcade, DLC marketing. They're innovating on services now as well with cloud and Gamepass.
Mattrick era was rough, but that was a different era and different people run the division now with different approaches. Everyone condemned their management style during that time.
I watched the doc you have your info backwards. Microsoft literally pitted teams against one another for a chance to be the team to handle a new console. WHo fucking does that?
Microsoft back then was crazy with power. But SHamous Blackly and the team were the Direct X guys. They talked to developers all the time at venues. They built Direct X based on developer feedback for graphics in software. They had a early prototype to show what a lean OS could do. Which is what at the time someone like bill respected. But the issue was Bill and the dumb higher ups wanted this giant Metal/Aloy X to be displayed and working. it was unrealistic.
But even during that insane setup, they pulled it off, not bill, not some enterprise deuchbag like balmer. But a direct X guy who literally got it working, showed it off and talked like a developer/Creator to a crowd of developers. Thats how they got people on board regardless of all the crazy hardships they had up to launch.
It was people like Blackley and J allard that understood Xbox. They knew what it meant because it meant everything as a project to them. It was an idea, similar to how things like apple started. It started literally in a garage type of environment in a conference room where a bunch of guys talked shop, and came up with something they were passionate about from their respective backgrounds.
When those people left, rest of the company took over, marketing took over. And it became over the next 5 years something else. It wasn't about a group of guys who scrapped together to make something look cool. Xbox at this point feels like a cold game division all about investments for the future when they are forgetting about quality play.