Recently, The Expansion Pass Podcast (formerly known as The Xbox Expansion Pass) sat down with Ed Fries, and what came out of that conversation is something a lot of players probably aren’t fully ready to process.
If you’re not familiar, Fries was instrumental in launching the original Xbox, helped bring Bungie into Microsoft, and served as VP of Game Publishing during some of the brand’s most important years. That kind of perspective isn’t something you get often, and throughout the interview, you can feel just how different the industry looks through that lens.
This wasn’t just a nostalgic look back at Xbox’s early days. It was a reminder of just how much the gaming industry has shifted, and how some of those changes feel almost surreal when you really stop and think about them.
At one point, that perspective hits especially hard. Activision Blizzard is now part of Xbox, while Bungie, a studio Fries helped bring into the fold, now sits under Sony Interactive Entertainment. It’s one of those full-circle moments that perfectly captures how unpredictable this industry has become.
But Fries doesn’t just reflect on the past. He also pushes back on the long-standing idea that Xbox was...
