10 Mind-Blowing "What If?" Video Game Scenarios That Almost Happened

2. Microsoft Successfully Launch The Xbox One

Microsoft's latest stab at the console market may still struggle against its competitors, but it's important to remember that things could've been so much worse.

Cast your mind back to 2013: it's E3, and the last console generation is at an end. Everyone knows that both Sony and Microsoft are going to be showing off their new hardware (on top of a few hotly anticipated next-gen titles), and there's a positive atmosphere all around, for the most part.

Except for the Xbox One, which - as far as announcements go - had about the worst one out there. Everything, from an apparent lack of focus on games themselves, to the console's DRM requirements and restrictions on sharing titles with friends put a damper on any positives that could be gleaned from Microsoft's initial announcement.

A huge fan backlash after further misery at E3 compelled Microsoft to act, meaning that the console that launched in November differed drastically from the company's original vision.

But, in spite of all the backlash, clever jibes from Sony and all the rest, Microsoft could've kept going with their initial game plan. Would it've worked? Probably not, but even then it's impossible to gage if there was a market for Microsoft's console outside of that hardcore bubble of gamers. It could've tanked, and forced a major U-turn for the company that way, or it could've fundamentally ripped apart the playbook that's dominated console politics for the last two decades.

Two forked timelines then, for an equally forked up E3 season.