In 2009, Microsoft had an interesting idea for the Xbox 360: try and get well-known game shows to create live, interactive versions of their shows, in which players could compete and win real life prizes. The only actual show to come out of this idea was an Xbox 360 version of the mob mentality game show, 1 vs. 100.
1 vs. 100 got its start as a Dutch game show, eventually making its way to America in 2006. The show's premise is fairly simple -- one live contestant competes against 100 randomly selected members of "the mob." Each time the live contestant gets a question right, any mob members that got the question wrong are eliminated. The goal is for the one live contestant to outlast the 100 mob members to get a massive cash prize.
The original Dutch version of the show, Eén tegen 100, still airs today. The English version saw a limited run, followed by a revival where the live mob was replaced with people on webcams. The American version's main criticism was that many felt the questions presented were too simplistic for a quiz show.
However, 1 vs. 100 would see one more version attempted, which would be through a surprisingly interesting medium. In 2009, former head of Xbox 350 operations Robert Boch would announce Xbox Live Primetime. Xbox Live Primetime would attempt to bring popular TV game shows to the Xbox 360 as live, interactive versions. Microsoft was in talks with three different game shows for this service: Survivor, American Idol and 1 vs. 100. The first (and only) to premiere would be 1 vs. 100.
The Xbox Live version of the show was fairly similar to the live version. One contestant, represented via their Xbox Live avatar, would be chosen to go up against the mob. However, there was a third group: the crowd, which consisted of the viewers who weren't selected for either The One or The Mob. The crowd could still answer questions, and although they couldn't win the game's Microsoft Point prize pool, the top three members from the crowd would win an Xbox Live Arcade game.
The contestant and the mob would be chosen based on the player's collective scores. This encouraged the crowd's members to play the game even if they weren't selected as members of the mob or as the contestant. The live game show saw 2.5 million downloads and even (according to Microsoft) broke a world record in North America for most contestants in a game show.
The show also had an "Extended Play" mode that would take place after the live segments ended. Extended Play involved players competing in trivia to boost their chances of being selected as members of the mob and as the contestant. All players would be part of the mob and would normally answer 37 questions. Players were also able to submit questions to be included in the Extended Play segments.
Despite 1 vs. 100's huge success, the series only lasted two seasons before the entire Xbox Live Primetime service was scrapped. Though no official reason has been given, many fans speculate that the program failed to secure contracts with other game shows to replace 1 vs. 100, which was only ever intended as a limited run. Others have suggested that relying only on advertising revenue to fund the game eventually led to its cancelation.
The general idea of 1 vs. 100 and Xbox Live Primetime is alive and well today through the mobile game HQ Trivia. HQ Trivia has a similar premise of holding live game shows that anyone can participate in through their mobile devices. Xbox Live Primetime may not have revolutionized game shows at the time, but it's clear that there's an audience for this type of experience.
Current Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has continued to voice his support for bringing back 1 vs. 100, or at least a similar experience. He most recently talked about he wants the game to return for the Xbox Series X and S or for Xbox to host their own game show that would follow a similar trivia format. Whether or not it'll be exclusive to Xbox systems is yet to be seen, given Microsoft's recent approach to exclusivity. 1 vs. 100 may not specifically return due to its limited success outside of the Netherlands, but a similar "mob mentality" game show could be the perfect experience for quarantined Xbox gamers, especially with Microsoft's focus on backwards compatibility.