Everyone has joked about Microsoft's horrible console naming conventions, but this latest slip in mislabeling the next-gen console shows that even Xbox is confused by the Series X's title. The Xbox Series X is Microsoft's fourth-generation console, and the two most recent generations were equally as confusing as the one to come.
The Xbox One X and Xbox One S are two current-gen consoles from Microsoft. These are not to be confused with the much more powerful next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. To be clear, the Xbox One X is a more powerful machine than the Xbox Series S, despite the Series S being the next-gen console of the two. It is easy to see where consumers could be confused by the names of the current and next-gen consoles, but it seems even Microsoft has problems keeping its console names straight.
Microsoft has fumbled the name of its next-gen console in two places on the internet. Both an Xbox Wire blog post and the Destiny 2: Beyond Light pre-order page stated that the next-gen console is named the Xbox One Series X. The Xbox Wire blog post stated that "Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available for pre-order now and will be coming to Xbox One Series X" and the pre-order page on Bungie's official website has a disclaimer that reads "Purchases of Beyond Light on Xbox One will transfer to Xbox One Series X for free via Smart Delivery." While these instances may seem small, they show that even Xbox has a hard time keeping its consoles in order.
This is not the first time Xbox's new console names have caused an embarrassing mix-up. On the day the price and release date for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles were revealed, the wrong Xbox consoles made it to the trending page on Twitter. Sony has proved that a simple naming convention works, even if it is just a numerical increase with every new console. However, Xbox has taken it upon itself to find the most bizarre ways to name its consoles, and it is reaping the consequences for its actions.
Some people claim that the names of the new Xbox consoles won't cause problems for consumers because no other next-gen console release has had this fabled problem. While this may be true, no other next-gen console release has had such a similar and confusing title as its most recent predecessor. Sure, the Wii and Wii U were similar in name and had little problems with consumers, but if Xbox has trouble telling its consoles apart, how are casual consumers supposed to stand a chance?