Shocking videos have appeared online that seem to show the new Xbox Series X catching fire, but skeptics are calling out the consoles' owners as fakers pulling off a simple illusion. Microsoft released its now current-gen consoles to the world yesterday, but within 24 hours, questionable rumors of the console being a fire hazard had already surfaced online.
After a momentous launch yesterday, which garnered congratulations from Nintendo’s Doug Bowser and PlayStation, Microsoft was probably hoping to spend time celebrating with players and preparing for more new console goodness. Unfortunately, the launch of the Xbox Series X/S hasn't been perfectly smooth. Upon yesterday's launch, Xbox live went down in a major ecosystem-wide outage, much to the disappointment of players who had just gotten their consoles and likely had quite a lot to install. Now, an even hotter issue has come to light, but it's not clear yet if Microsoft or players need to panic.
Sharing a clip of their new Xbox Series X console on Twitter, Arek_Adamowicz showed a video of what appears to be billowing smoke appearing through the console's top vent, but the smoke is surprisingly light in color. Redditor Hirsutophilia also shared a similar video to r/XboxSeriesX, but the user has since taken it down after being informed of it being "fake" (but it can be seen below as catalogued by Twitter's Xbox Series X News). Hirsutophilia could very well be correct about these videos likely being staged, as Spanish-language Xbox news account XboxStudio demonstrated to its Twitter followers how the illusion of an on-fire Xbox Series X can be easily achieved by using a normal vapor pen to simulate a "smoke" effect, even with the Xbox console switched off.
For now, Xbox has made no comment or rebuttal of the possibly fraudulent videos, so it's not completely clear who's in the right or wrong here. Despite the two shared videos both showing plumes rising from the top of the Xbox Series X, there is a noticeable difference in the amount of smoke shown in each clip, and the "smoke" in each dissipates quickly and look much lighter than smoke does in high concentrations (almost like it's really, y'know, water vapor). Both videos also only show one angle of the Xbox consoles, making it conceivable that a vapor could be releasing vapor/smoke into them while hidden from view, and neither video show the moments when the vapor/smoke began to rise out of the consoles.
Until more concrete evidence comes to light either way, it is reasonable for gamers to continue using their Xbox Series X consoles confidently. Of course, due care is always advised, and should any smoke begin to emit from the machine appropriate action must be taken.
The Xbox Series X/S is available now.
Source: Arek_Adamowics, Hirsutophilia, XSXConsole, XboxStudio