When the Xbox Series X was first announced nearly two years ago plenty of people collectively groaned at the name. It’s unnecessarily clunky and long and it’s so close to the names given to the current (soon to be previous) generation of hardware that confusion was bound to be an issue. Many brushed those concerns away, saying they were unfounded and that people would soon learn the difference. “Microsoft will do a good job of differentiating them, you’ll see!” they said, unaware of what the future held.
X marks the spot
If yesterday’s pre-order opening for the Xbox Series X is anything to go by, Microsoft did a monumentally poor job at separating the Xbox One X and Xbox Series X. Looking at sales figures pulled from Amazon, where pre-orders for the Series X opened yesterday (among other places), that wasn’t the console that sold phenomenally well. Nope, the Xbox One X (which is the old one, for those playing the home game) saw sales spike by over 700% yesterday. There will be loads of very disappointed people when the penny finally drops.
Xbox One X sales rank is up 747% on Amazon lol…
Wonder how many people bought an Xbox One X instead of an Xbox Series X https://t.co/atj4thPwqD pic.twitter.com/CUzRkib3Sr
— Andrew Alerts (@AndrewAlerts) September 22, 2020
It’s an act of human error and is more than a little silly but, honestly, can you blame people? With the PS5 pre-order debacle — where consoles sold out in short order — showing how quickly people needed to move to get their next-gen console, people obviously panicked. The console titles are similar enough that even we at the office have often confused the pair. Come on, there are three Xs’ to remember each time you write either one of them. That’s just a recipe for confusion right there, tech journalist or not.
Fortunately for the folks who pre-ordered through Amazon, they should be able to return the purchase but whether there’s any stock left of the Series X… well, they may have to wait a bit. This stands as a warning for all the folks hyped on the new Xbox: Please be aware of what you’re adding to basket or you may be surrounded by some very disappointing faces come the end of the year.
(Source: The Verge)