How Bill Gates’ Minesweeper addiction helped lead to the Xbox
When Bill Gates first played Minesweeper, he was instantly addicted. The simple, yet addictive, game of logic quickly ate up all of his free time. He played it at work, at home, and even on the plane.
It was this addiction that eventually led to the creation of the Xbox. Gates and his team had originally been working on a version of the game for the Macintosh computer, but when they couldn’t get it to work well, they decided to create their own console.
The original Xbox was released in 2001 and featured a number of games, including, of course, Minesweeper. The console was a huge success, selling over 24 million units worldwide.
While it’s impossible to say for sure, it’s likely that Gates’ addiction to Minesweeper played a role in the success of the Xbox. The game was a perfect fit for the console and helped to make it one of the most popular gaming systems of all time.
