<P> The original Xbox was released on November 15 , 2001 , in North America , February 22 , 2002 , in Japan , and March 14 , 2002 , in Australia and Europe . It was Microsoft 's first foray into the gaming console market . As part of the sixth - generation of gaming , the Xbox competed with Sony 's PlayStation 2 , Sega 's Dreamcast ( which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale ) , and Nintendo 's GameCube . The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996 . The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box , a reference to Microsoft 's graphics API , DirectX . </P>
<P> The original Xbox was released on November 15 , 2001 , in North America , February 22 , 2002 , in Japan , and March 14 , 2002 , in Australia and Europe . It was Microsoft 's first foray into the gaming console market . As part of the sixth - generation of gaming , the Xbox competed with Sony 's PlayStation 2 , Sega 's Dreamcast ( which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale ) , and Nintendo 's GameCube . The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996 . The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box , a reference to Microsoft 's graphics API , DirectX . </P>
when did the first x box come out
when did the first x box come out
November 15 , 2001
November 15 , 2001