A Way Out Dev On Xbox Series X/S: “That’s a F—ing Confusing Name”

Josef Fares, the director and dev at Hazelight Studios behind the action-adventure title A Way Out and the upcoming It Takes Two, had a few choice words for Microsoft’s naming their latest consoles the Xbox Series X/S – namely that it was a “f—ing confusing name,” among other things.

He’s certainly not the first to criticize the console’s name, and his choice of words aren’t even the coarsest. Microsoft has a historically bad reputation for naming its consoles in a way that lacks both the logic or imagination that contemporaries Sony and Nintendo are respectively known for. The growing lack of distinction between its console names across generations has gotten bad enough that even Microsoft is sometimes confused by which console is which. The Series X/S in particular drew ire among players and gaming journalists for being confusing, particularly after the One X/S had the exact same distinguishing letters at the end of their names.

Fares certainly shared that sentiment in a recent interview with IGN, where he discussed why Hazelight’s upcoming title, It Takes Two. Fares already had a degree of notoriety for his bombastic criticisms against EA during his Game Awards speech in 2017, so his candor towards Xbox consoles in this recent interview is hardly surprising. He elaborated that the choice was made because the consoles were released so late in It Takes Two’s production that Hazelight simply didn’t have the time to port them to the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series, which segued into Fares’s expletive-laden diatribe about Microsoft’s naming conventions:

“That’s a f**king confusing name. What the f**k’s going on with Microsoft? They’re losing it, man. What the f**k is going on? Like Series S, X, Mex, Next. I mean, who knows this? Come on. Madness. Call it the Microsoft Box and that’s it. I don’t know. It’s a total f**king mess. Trust me, even them, they’re confused in their offices. What is this X, S… I don’t know, what the f**k.”

Fares’s word choice may be a little more colorful than others have used in relation to the Xbox Series X/S, which admittedly does seem like more of a palindrome than a console name, but that’s been a common sentiment ever since the Series X/S was revealed. Microsoft’s naming system seems to have no rhyme or reason, and it’s not at all helped by its sudden penchant for slapping X or S to the end of products’ names. Sony, on the other hand, has a much more pragmatic and utilitarian approach with its PlayStation console series by simply appending the appropriate number to the product family’s name. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s more imaginative names sometimes fall flat (like the Wii U), but they’re normally very unique and distinctive from past generations, something that the Series X/S cannot say for themselves.

Microsoft can still boast that they’re in the business of selling consoles, not names, and to that end, they’re doing exceedingly well. Fares, in the meantime, is disinterested in consoles and cares only about games. So nothing will likely come out of his outburst, beyond a few more gamers who hate the Microsoft naming scheme feeling just a touch more justified.

Source: IGN

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