Xbox recently revealed its latest crossover, releasing an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series X and matching controller styled after Bluey to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:promote the new Bluey video game, which is called Bluey: The Videogame in a crime against the spacebar. We take that sort of thing very seriously here at TheGamer. In any case, saying Xbox 'released' this console is a bit of a misnomer. You can't actually buy it. Instead you can do some retweets with some hashtags like it's 2016, and be in with a chance of winning it. But here's an idea - why not just sell the thing people want to buy?
Not that I'd actually buy this one. There are more important yums for me to yuck in this line of work to get bent out of shape about a cartoon dog from a kid's show, but I don't 'get' Bluey. However, just a couple of weeks ago, Xbox had another one of these brand deals, this time crossing over with Wonka - in this case, the controller wasn't a new skin, but a fully edible replica. With Christmas coming up, an official chocolate Xbox controller is a no brainer, but again the only route to obtain one was via retweets.
The controller would not have been a Christmas gift. I would have eaten it all in one sitting while complaining that I 'just don't have time' to go to the gym these days.
These are not standalone examples, these are just the latest ones. There was a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one that 168🐠澳洲幸运5开奖网:came𓄧 with an infuser so it smelled like pizza. There were 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:furry red and blue ones for the Sonic movie. Barbie, memorably, had a Series S tie-in and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a dre💧am 𝄹house designed to fit the console itself, as well as five different controller plates modelled after the outfits Barbie and Ken wore in the movie. Bluey is just some art, but the rest of them tie in specifically to what they represent - chocolate for Wonka, pizza scent for the turtles, quills for Sonic, and dressing up for Barbie. These don't just look great, they're clever thematic ideas.
I'm not one to go to bat for rampant consumerism. I think console generations are too short, remasters are a bad idea, collector's editions are a waste of money, and video games in general are too expensive. With the exception of the chocolate Wonka controller, which presumably would have been much cheaper than the others, I wouldn't have bought any of these. Okay, maybe Barbie - but just the controllers, not the dream house. Maybe the dream house too. I guess rampant consumerism is onto something.
Some of Xbox's weirder crossover deals
I know the point of the tie-in is less to shift controllers and more to win eyeballs. These deals make money for Xbox, and promote whatever the controllers are for to Xbox's built in audience. It also keeps Xbox in the headlines regularly, and sells it as a family brand. Whether you like Bluey, Wonka, TMNT, or Barbie, Xbox is for you. Bluey is relatively boring, but the others having that thematic link also makes you talk about them. I told my friends and family outside gaming about the chocolate controller, the pizza smell, and the Xbox dream house, because that's bigger than 'a new controller'.
But under all the marketing, it's still a new controller. And people like new controllers. I'm not the collecting type, but I can understand someone saying 'hey, it's that thing I like, now on an Xbox controller. It sure would make my life a little better to own that controller', and wanting to just pay the 50 bucks or whatever they charge over retweeting and hoping they win over a bunch of randoms and bots. It's a strange system and while I know scarcity drives up demand, the whole point of that is to profit from the scarcity, not give out the controllers for free to some rando.
Xbox did sell the official 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Starfield crossover 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:controller and console, so it may be thatꦚ only first party special editi𒊎ons get general release. With it all under the same roof, there’s no messy contracts over production costs and profit to worry about.
I am struggling to believe myself that Bluey is the controller that broke the gamer's back, but it is. While I have no interest in a blue Xbox controller with the picture of a cartoon dog from a children's show on it, I am amazed that Xbox still isn't selling any of these, despite their obvious popularity. It's almost Christmas, but any little tykes hoping for a Bluey controller better hope mummy and daddy (or whatever combination of primary caregivers, it's 2023, get with the times) get lucky on Twitter. Otherwise, it's the plain old black one for you this holiday season.
