Next-Gen Product Names? [2019 Edition]

[Deleted member 13524]

How about pulling an apple and just calling it "the new XBox"?

It's not like they have tried that before and didn't go grea... oh wait nevermind.

 

[AzBat]

Always liked Xbox Nexus. Infinity or Infinite although neat just has too many syllables.

Tommy McClain

 

[milk]

Trying to think outside the box here...

X Sphere?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

How on earth is 8k simplified to ∞k?!

Xbox 2020 (Twenty twenty) - that's the year it's releasing, which sounds futuristic, and it plays games with perfect artistic vision.

Going with that.

Xbox 20/20?

Xbox MMXX? Roman numerals for a number that large would probably be too arcane for the majority of the buying public though.

They could also just go with something mathematics related.

Xbox Ω sounds catchy and looks cool.

Xbox λ for the LGBT crowd? Alternatively Microsoft partners with Valve for Xbox and PC exclusivity of Halflife 3? Thus tying the name of the Xbox to marketing material for the game?

Lots of fun to be had with the Greek letters used for mathematic symbols.

Regards,
SB

 

[AzBat]

Xray

Spoiler

Also thought of Quad, Quattro, Quartet or Delta(Δ).

Tommy McClain

 

[temesgen]

Xbox pro, Xbox pro plus. Xbox pro 2....

 

[AzBat]

Xbox pro, Xbox pro plus. Xbox pro 2....

Now you're talking crazy. LOL

Tommy McClain

 

[Globalisateur]

Ybox

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Always liked Xbox Nexus.

Would that clash with Google? I guess only if Google trademarked it for more than phones, but they probably did.

I guess the naming has always been an issue for MS. The actual brand name is just the placeholder they never replaced. Would they be better off with a rebrand entirely? Something that they can rebrand all their services, so instead of being XBox Game Pass, which associates the service on devices with the console in a mildly confusing fashion ("I own a PS4 so aren't going to look at XBox thing on my phone."), turn everything into...Azure, or some other shade of blue, and have Azure Game Pass and AzureBox or Azure Game Centre.

Is the XBox brand strong enough to be a positive, or would it be better served being replaced? In the home market, it's probably worth keeping, but if MS want to reach further, maybe it's time to hang up the association with 'the box to run DirectX' and pick something more purposefully named?

 

[London Geezer]

I’m really quite surprised that neither Sony nor MS have gone Apple on the names and just called their new releases (The new) PlayStation or XBox.

Maybe add the year of release in online shops so as not to confuse people, but really people these days tend to know what they’re buying so they’re hardly going to confuse the new Playstation with the first one from 1995, which you can’t buy anyway.

 

[Ike Turner]

I’m really quite surprised that neither Sony nor MS have gone Apple on the names and just called their new releases (The new) PlayStation or XBox.

Maybe add the year of release in online shops so as not to confuse people, but really people these days tend to know what they’re buying so they’re hardly going to confuse the new Playstation with the first one from 1995, which you can’t buy anyway.

MS did that with the Surface Pro 5 (called only The new Surface Pro). And it didn't work (it confused potential buyers etc) and reverted back to the old nomenclature with the newer one: Surface Pro 6

 

[Shifty Geezer]

...they’re hardly going to confuse the new Playstation with the first one from 1995, which you can’t buy anyway.

Search "playstation" in Amazon...



I guess the main consideration is differentiation between generations. When Little Jonny asks for a new PlayStation, is he wanting the old, cheap PSn or the new, expensive PSn+1? It might be obvious given context (poor families always buying at the tail end of a generation, so always referring to the older model) but there's not really a good reason to avoid the clarity of a clear, unique name. Especially with the addition of mid-gen refreshes.

I guess precedent for MS too is to go back to numbers. They tried Windows ME and Windows Vista, and went back to 7, 8 and 10. You know where you are with numbers. The only problem with XB is stuck with numbers but in same crazy order that they can't use them coherently any more, and kinda backed themselves into a corner. Sony can ride PlayStation forever - the brand just gets stronger and stronger with each iteration, with each bigger number being a badge of pride and strength. Like levelling up in an RPG - how lame would it be if you levelled up from Page to Serf? Not at all clear that you're new and improved!

Nintendo OTOH forwent numbers in the first place. Super-Nintendo...there's a cue for MS - Super Box!

 

[BRiT]

The names and statements write themselves for a 2 tier product launch.

Today Microsoft is proud to present to you the Xbox Infinity and Beyond consoles!

Xbox Infinity (Lockhart)
Xbox Beyond (Anaconda)

 

[temesgen]

Now you're talking crazy. LOL

Tommy McClain

Xbox Go? Lol

 

[Mskx]

Xbox Beam - The real reason Beam became Mixer was because they realized it would be perfect for a console.

Xray

I really like that and could even see it being real if they decide to really lean into RT.

 

[borntosoul]

If it’s two tiered then it has to be the Xbox Arnold and Xbox DeVito.

 

[milk]

I guess the naming has always been an issue for MS. The actual brand name is just the placeholder they never replaced. Would they be better off with a rebrand entirely? Something that they can rebrand all their services, so instead of being XBox Game Pass, which associates the service on devices with the console in a mildly confusing fashion ("I own a PS4 so aren't going to look at XBox thing on my phone."), turn everything into...Azure, or some other shade of blue, and have Azure Game Pass and AzureBox or Azure Game Centre.

Is the XBox brand strong enough to be a positive, or would it be better served being replaced? In the home market, it's probably worth keeping, but if MS want to reach further, maybe it's time to hang up the association with 'the box to run DirectX' and pick something more purposefully named?

I've always said X-Box is too geeky of a name for most markets. X" just sounds kind of agressive, or just nerdy depending on who you ask, but either way it places itself more as a niche product than as a mainstream one. It's the kind of thing that can only work well in America. It fits the american kind of crassness that public can enjoy, or at least withstand, but makes it foreign for everyone else.

 

[jlippo]

XOXO

Yup.
Only reasonable choice.

From XO to XOX and now XOXO as a base console and as the more powerful version in mid-gen.

 

[Metal_Spirit]

“XBOX One X Two” For Lockhart
“XBOX One X Two X” for Anaconda

 

[Xbat]

I’m really quite surprised that neither Sony nor MS have gone Apple on the names and just called their new releases (The new) PlayStation or XBox.

Maybe add the year of release in online shops so as not to confuse people, but really people these days tend to know what they’re buying so they’re hardly going to confuse the new Playstation with the first one from 1995, which you can’t buy anyway.

That's what Sony does really. I mean it's PlayStation with a number at the end so it's not confusing. I mean no one is going to be confused or not know that PlayStation 5 is the better machine than PlayStation 4.