Microsoft’s pointlessly confusing naming scheme is doubtless to blame as sales of the One X mysteriously rocket, despite it being discontinued.
When the new Xbox consoles – the Series S and Series X – went on pre-sale a few days ago, Microsoft will have been buoyed by the excited response from gamers keen to snap up orders, as the systems sold out just as quickly as Sony’s PlayStation 5 devices had the previous week.
What the Redmond based company probably didn’t anticipate however was just how much interest their previous flagship console (Xbox One X) would suddenly enjoy, as sales of the now discontinued system shot up at the same time.
To give you an idea of how big a leap there was in sales for the One X, check out this revealing tweet below:
Now, we could laugh at the poor saps who misunderstood what they were buying and let’s be honest, no hardcore gamer would make this kind of mistake – however, Microsoft really needs to take some of the blame here.
The names they’ve chosen for their new systems (Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S) are not only awkward to say (you can imagine someone mishearing X as S for example) but they’re pointlessly long-winded and just too similar to the previous generation.
Seriously, we love Phil Spencer, but what exactly was he smoking when he approved these names??
It’s all well and good for hardcore gamers to recognise the difference instantly, but for parents hoping to get their kids a shiny new games system for Christmas or for casual enthusiasts who haven’t done their next-gen homework, this was an accident waiting to happen.
On the plus side, if Xbox One X sales continue at this rate there won’t be any left to create the confusion in the first place….what’s that? the Xbox One S hasn’t been discontinued?…shit…
