Quick show of hands among Xbox 360 owners: Who remembers 1 vs. 100? For those who don’t, it was an adaptation of a popular game show back in 2009 for Xbox Live members of all ages to participate in, where live, pre-scheduled matches would involve a random player being picked as “The One”, 100 more random players being picked as “The Mob”, and everyone else being “The Crowd”.
From there, players would answer multiple-choice trivia questions, with The One having the opportunity to win Microsoft Points and The Mob having the opportunity to take those points for themselves if The One lost. Other features included real-time narration from host Chris Cashman and pre-recorded dialog from co-host Jen Taylor, best known to gamers as the voice of Princess Peach and Cortana.
Though 1 vs. 100 did very well, the company discontinued the program in 2010 and hasn’t really done anything like it since on their home consoles. If a recent statement from Microsoft Studios’ own Dave McCarthy is any indication, though, there might be something in a similar vein coming to Xbox One in the future.
“The approach is something we really enjoyed,” said McCarthy in a recent interview. “We will do something in the future for Xbox One that is like that, because spiritually we thought it was a pretty cool experience ourselves.” He also offered some insight on the production process, saying, “The notion of bringing a large number of people together in both a social and let’s say a more casual gaming format is something we believe in a lot. In some ways 1 vs. 100 was a little bit ahead of its time. From a production perspective it gave us a few challenges in terms of the sheer effort to bring that to market on a regular basis.”
What exactly the hinted-at spiritual successor could end up being is anyone’s guess at this point, but as someone who had fun playing 1 vs. 100 back when it was still around, I’m curious to see what Microsoft can do with today’s improved console and streaming technology.
Tell us, would you be interested in playing a live game show from your Xbox One? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.