I recently labelled a specific element of Xbox One a PR gaffe.
Certainly, to not answer the biggest questions some have had about the new Xbox since the start of the year is a mistake.
Reacting with silence – or rubbishing reports as ‘inaccurate and incomplete’, as Microsoft did to an MCVuk.com piece – doesn’t help.
Many have said to me since last Tuesday that it has escalated. That a runaway ‘Xbone’ meme train, driven by the Call of Duty dog gif and fuelled by retweets of that amusing ‘TV-TV-TV-sports!-TV’ viral video, sums up the challenge Xbox now has.
I don’t quite agree.
Sure, the attempt to offer a glimpse and leave thoughts hanging as we await the games at E3 didn’t quite go to plan – the press has filled the void with concerns, more questions, and gags.
But the cynical commentators trying to be one of the cool kids at the back of the bus will have to start doing their homework eventually.
Retailers, despite the obvious questions which Microsoft has promised to answer, have high hopes for Xbox One.
And they say customers are similarly excited.
Will all that in mind, I can’t help but think that the short time between the first Xbox reveal and the E3 stuff means the scorn is washed away quicker, and the mob will move on the minute a fresh target appears.