Four days before the original Xbox turns 25, the official @Xbox account has dropped the modern look and gone back to 2001. The new header is the original console and the Duke controller, the profile picture is the classic green orb, and the bio is the old launch slogan: “Games will never be the same.”
The artwork appeared on 11 November. Xbox has not posted about the change, or tied it to a feature announcement. If this is only a birthday outfit, it is a very good one.
The timing is doing rather a lot of work for fans. The original Xbox launched on 15 November 2001, and that anniversary falls on Sunday. Xbox has already confirmed that achievements are coming “later this year” to select original Xbox games on console and PC, starting with BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. Progress made before the update will not count.
That much is official, from a 22 July Xbox Wire post by Jason Ronald, VP of Next Generation at Xbox. A launch this week, or on Sunday, is fan speculation. Achievement hunter Stallion83 asked on 9 November whether original Xbox achievements might deploy this week, with the anniversary on Sunday. After the profile changed, XCT.live posted a screenshot of the new account with the line “OG XBOX Achievements incoming…” Xbox has not confirmed a date.
In late October, some original Xbox games started appearing in achievement lists at 0/0 Gamerscore, which we covered at the time. None of the four named games were among those spotted, and nothing was unlockable then either. Until Xbox names a day, the official position remains “later this year”.
