While the Xbox One saw less than stellar sales in its first year it was still a worthy upgrade to the Xbox 360. That’s just what you’d expect from a world-leading console developer like Microsoft.

Console exclusives, a social and easy to use online interface and enhanced graphics should have made for a easy sell.

But the gaming world is competitive, and as this console generation draws to a close, the PS4 and Nintendo Switch both eclipsed Xbox sales. 

RELATED: Why Microsoft No Longer Reveals Xbox Sales Figures 

There are countless theories why — but one things for sure: even Xbox fans found plenty of faults with their chosen system.

Here’s 10 things wrong with the Xbox one.

10 Kinect of the Past

 

Microsoft stopped pushing the body tracking accessory in 2017, but for a while it was an integral part of the Xbox One experience.

“Xbox On,” and the Xbox would turn on — voice controls and gestures seemed like an intuitive way to control a next-generation experience. In fact, it was a mandatory part of the Xbox One bundle at release.

But alas, in 2017 Microsoft stopped Kinect Production. Few games supported the periphery device, and it raised the price of the Xbox one without adding to much value.

There were also privacy concerns; all in all not a bright spot on Xbox’s scorecard.

RELATED: Xbox Kinect Used to Listen to Users at Home 

9 No More Sharing

Many gamers would remember sharing discs among friends during the Xbox 360 days.

No longer is that possible on Xbox one, as gamers must own the game digitally, or insert the disc in order to play.

Unlike the 360, the security measures on the Xbox meant full installs for every game, meaning lengthy wait times before you could even play a game you purchased.

For a next-generation console, it sure didn’t deliver next-generation game sharing.

8 That Pesky ‘on’ Button

The “on” button on the original Xbox one was a favourite spot for ghosts. All kidding aside, the proximity sensor often malfunctioned, meaning the console would power off mid-game, or creepily chime on while players weren’t even in the same room.

It was an issue fixed with a new generation of consoles — the “S” — but remains an annoying part of its early history.

7 Endless Internet Downloads

When booting up the console, many fans found themselves confronted with massive downloads, or updates, that were mandatory before they were able to play the game.

Battlefield I and V’s day one patch’s  were massive — Battlefield V’s first update clocked 139 pages of content.

And almost every other game was often updated, many times while the Xbox was asleep. That feature was great in theory, but meant fans with slow internet connections went days at a time waiting for mandatory downloads to, well, download.

6 App Malfunctions

The Xbox One was marketed as an all-round entertainment machine, with TV integration, a blu-ray player and remote support.

That being said, the app support for the Xbox has been criticized for its shoddy connectivity and limited view of the Xbox store.

Often, downloading a game through the Smartglass app results in errors — and it’s not intuitive enough to replace the console’s controller.

5 A Roving Home Screen

Xbox One Dashboard Home Update

The Xbox One Home screen has a long history of updates, refreshes and redos.

High first iteration of the next-generation home screen, released with the console, seemed to push Microsoft’s vision of the console being an all round entertainment machine, with an update in 2015 pivoting towards a focus on games and speed of access.

But since then the consoles seen a parade up mini updates that often interrupted player’s sessions.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will throw a whole new interface into the Xbox Series X — but the hope is it will be updated a whole lot less, and designed with a whole lot more precision.

4 We need More Power!

anthem pc xbox one x comparison

The Xbox lagged behind PS4 in power, plain and simple. It had higher GPU and RAM: to get specific the Xbox had DDR5 RAM while the PS4 had the more advanced GDDR5.

While the graphical differences were small, it gave PlayStation fans some good ammunition for the friendly banter between console communities.

RELATED: PS4 vs Xbox: Which Control Versions Run the Best? 

That graphical race was won, at long last, by the Xbox One X, which boosted the system to 12GB of Ram — a faster and more efficient system than the PS4 Pro.

3 The Last of Spider-Man and God of War

the last of us part 2 artwork

Speaking of PlayStation, Sony’s fans got some fantastic games that Xbox players missed.

The Last of Us, God of War, and Spider-Man, for instance, received high praise around the gaming world. They were experiences that Xbox fans couldn’t access.

While Xbox One laid claim to some grade A games like Forza Horizon 3, other exclusives like Sea of Thieves of Sunset Overdrive didn’t become the mega-hits Microsoft wanted.

In 2020, there’s few exclusives that would elevate Xbox above PS4.

2 Console Refresh?

The Xbox One now has four versions — the Xbox One S, S Digital and One X. Each was released a couple years after the One launched, and each brings something slightly different to the table.

For many fans, the all-digital version of the Xbox was the biggest letdown, packaged with older games and no disc drive.

With a hefty price take, the Xbox One was an investment, but with the released of the S, and One X, it became confusing as to where in the console generation gamers fell in.

1 Batteries upon Batteries

With powerful, low-latency controllers comes a need for power, and lots of it. The Xbox One’s controllers were powered by removable, AA batteries, and while gamers could replace them with rechargeable ones, the battery life was short, with the need to replace them coming way too soon.

In the middle of rounds of Call of Duty, while taking a FIFA penalty or one kill away from a chicken dinner, the battery life of these controllers were less than adequate.

NEXT: The 10 Best Xbox One Games (According to Metacritic)