Xbox One's first TV commercial has no video games

TV, TV, TV, TV, TV, sports, sports, sports, Call of Duty.

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TV, TV, TV, TV, TV, sports, sports, sports, Call of Duty.

Microsoft's first TV ad for Xbox One doesn't have a single video game in it. But, we guess that shouldn't be too surprising at this point. Instead, the first commercial for Microsoft's next-gen console is all about the NFL and Skype.

(via IGN)

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 5, 2013 7:30 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Xbox One's first TV commercial has no video games.

    TV, TV, TV, TV, TV, sports, sports, sports, Call of Duty.

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 7:41 PM

      Doesn't surprise me. The war to be the device in people's living rooms is going to be a big deal for the next few years.

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      September 5, 2013 8:28 PM

      It's been evident from day one that they wanted the Xbox to be more than just a gaming device. They have long term ideas for the Xbox name to appeal to gamers and non-gamers. This is a market transition for the Xbox brand.

      10 years down the line, I wouldn't be surprised Microsoft releases a product with the Xbox name on it that doesn't play a single game at all.

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      September 5, 2013 9:00 PM

      they've learned nothing.

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        September 6, 2013 7:13 AM

        Coming from somebody who knows nothing, what have we learned?

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 9:01 PM

      Almost as dumb as the PS3 baby commercials...

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        September 5, 2013 9:36 PM

        Except this commercial shows I use scenario that a ton of people will take advantage of, whereas the Sony commercial you're referencing just showed a creepy baby. Do you see the difference, or are you just being deliberately obtuse?

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          September 6, 2013 6:26 AM

          I said almost.... And I am giving the PS3 commercial points for actually showing games.
          Seriously what bug got up your butt, or are you just deliberately being an ass hole?

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      September 5, 2013 9:04 PM

      We already know it plays games, in fact that will be the NUMBER ONE reason people buy this thing.

      It's an XBox. The letter X stands for many things.

      The trailer didn't need to show off stuff people already know about. They showed off the seamless NFL, TV, and Skype integration, running smooth on a flatpanel TV.

      I have a few friends buying this thing purely for the voice command function for TV, this thing is going to sell like hotcakes.

      We all remember the leading female in RoboCop III turning on her TV and even changing the channel to MediaBreak using her voice. Well friends, that future is November 2013.

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 9:12 PM

        [deleted]

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          September 5, 2013 9:56 PM

          There are TVs with the level of precision for voice recognition shown off with the new Kinect that have apps that pretty seamlessly integrate with the TV? Link please?

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            September 5, 2013 10:09 PM

            Exactly, and even then, most people aren't going to want to spend $1000+ on a new panel to get those features if they can get a box for a fraction of that that is also a next-gen game console.

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            September 6, 2013 1:04 AM

            Still waiting on the link to those TVs, because they sound awesome.

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 10:12 PM

        That's a bit suspicious, do you work for microsoft?

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        September 5, 2013 10:41 PM

        You mean it stands for DirectX right

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 10:51 PM

        lol...said like a true MS employee :)

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 9:07 PM

      Comment from 2 hours ago on the video that originated the "TV TV TV" thing: "The saddest thing is that months later this is still relevant"

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbWgUO-Rqcw

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        September 5, 2013 9:40 PM

        Except it will play games, we knew that from the moment it was announced. The overwhelming majority of consumers know that. That is why Microsoft is showing features that will differentiate them from Sony, since we all know that for the most part both systems are going to have the same games.

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      September 5, 2013 9:08 PM

      Yoon are you trolling? Anyone with a fucking brain knows that the Xbox is for gaming. My mom knows the Xbox is for gaming. Guaranteed the average Joe isn't aware that Microsoft and the NFL signed a deal. What better night then the first night of football to advertise to this audience?

      I swear the Gaming media has been the front runner when it comes to shitting on the Xbox One and getting everyone riled up!

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 10:05 PM

      AITOO who doesn't really get the outrage here? Of course it plays games. Everyone on earth knows that an Xbox plays games. Yeah, shame on Microsoft for taking for granted that people were with it enough to remember this fact without being reminded of it incessantly.

      How are they supposed to get people to understand the non-gaming features of the device if they're forbidden from talking about them? When you build a product, you market what it can do. Microsoft's crime here is they thought it would be okay to focus on the new features and assume people already fully understood it was a game console. So they were wrong.

      I have little to no interest in buying one. But my god, the Xbox One hate train is so much more ridiculous than the product itself at this point.

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 10:15 PM

        I agree the hate train is too much, but saying that Microsoft needn't market their new Xbox as a gaming system because that's implied is pretty silly too.

        That said, there will surely be Titanfallgaming-focused commercials.

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 10:15 PM

        The problem isn't whether we know it plays games. Someone needs to remind them that it does.
        The problem is them showing us how low a priority games are for them.

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          September 5, 2013 10:22 PM

          Really according to Microsoft and Sony's data the current systems are used for watching Netflix more then anything else

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            September 6, 2013 12:18 AM

            But that doesn't change the fact that you would buy them for that alone.

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              September 6, 2013 12:21 AM

              You wouldn't you can play games on it too.............. But for some people the main factors will be what else it can do besides playing games. Especially as they've been introduced to having HBO Go or Netflix on their consoles already.

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                September 6, 2013 1:03 AM

                I don't get why that fact is so hard for some people to understand.

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                  September 6, 2013 4:19 AM

                  I think people take issue with this idea because there are so many devices that do these same things, for a much, much lower cost. People are not buying a next-gen console just to use Netflix.

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                    September 6, 2013 4:38 AM

                    The problem isn't that people take issue with it, the problem is that so many of the people that do take issue with it think they are being personally slighted by Microsoft. They are literally unwilling or incapable of realizing that, other than Nintendo (which the "hardcore" gamers love to shit on because they don't make Limited Color Pallete Shooter pt. 9), there will never be another strictly gamer-oriented console.
                    Those days have passed.

                    So people can either rah-rah one console over the other, or they can realize that the hobby has become mainstream and, as a result, accept that features people actually enjoy and use on a regular basis are going to become a staple of future consoles.

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                      September 6, 2013 5:28 AM

                      True. But MS' whole thing with the TV stuff and the NFL stuff, while great for some, is probably going to make many gamers think (and perhaps not inaccurately) that they are throwing significant resources at things which do not benefit them (as gamers) and might make them reconsider a purchase.

                      • reply
                        September 6, 2013 7:16 AM

                        You're saying this like it takes a huge effort to make a game machine.

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              September 6, 2013 12:53 AM

              To be fair, my brother and my SIL got their 360 mostly for media streaming. To them, gaming was just an added bonus on top of a solid cable-cutting solution. I can't imagine they are the only ones who did so. Not that a majority of people will buy an Xbone purely as a media center rather than a gaming system, but there is definitely a sizable group of people who will get it for media first and games second.

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                September 6, 2013 1:24 AM

                And there were people that bought the PS3 because they wanted a Bluray player, this isn't exactly a new thing.

        • reply
          September 5, 2013 10:34 PM

          Yup, 22 launch titles shows they obviously don't care about games at all. I hear those are the only games that will ever be released for the system.

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            September 6, 2013 12:21 AM

            My point was more about marketing, they just keep showing utter disdain for gamers.

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              September 6, 2013 12:35 AM

              [deleted]

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              September 6, 2013 1:00 AM

              I think you're taking their whole approach way too personally. Microsoft realizes dad the number of hardcore gamers who will buy a system for games alone is not enough to sustain their hardware business, so all of this focus on the media features is there attempt to broaden the base of people who will consider buying their console. Microsoft and Sony are both competing this generation to be the center of your entire home entertainment system and, as a result, they can't have the focus be 100 percent on games when it comes to how they market the system. The gamers know that there are going to be a ton of titles on both systems but, for the person who is sitting on the fence about whether to buy hardware from either manufacturer, the media features are going to be the deciding factor.

              It doesn't mean Microsoft has disdain for gamers, it just means they're looking at the metrics and usage patterns they've been tracking on the 360 for years and attempting to make their new system appeal to a broader market than just the so-called hardcore gamers. I look at it as a win win scenario; I'll get a system that will play all of the latest titles, as well as a beefy media center device. I don't see how that's anything but good news.

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              September 6, 2013 5:31 AM

              I dont think you know what distain means and you have it in your head that "MS hates games"

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          September 5, 2013 11:36 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            September 6, 2013 12:20 AM

            Yeah, I did , well some of it as they mainly spoke about games that were multiplatform or I didn't care about.

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              September 6, 2013 1:02 AM

              And millions of other people do care about the games they showed. Your personal preferences don't trump the reality that lots of people love the types of mass-market titles they showed. And to claim they disdain gamers simply because they didn't show the types of titles that you, personally, like is utterly asinine.

      • reply
        September 5, 2013 11:19 PM

        I think it's a fair advertisement that people are making into a big deal for no reason. I thought Microsoft's announcement of the Xbox One and focusing on non-gaming, however, was a stupid move. People weren't tuning in then for any other reason but games and they neglected that. They wanted to see it's main function and hear about some of the extras that it can do, not focus on the extras and let everyone assume it plays games too.

        This here is just one advertisement out of many and it's more appropriate now to sell it as something different than what your competitor is doing and as something more than just a video game console. Focusing on games now isn't as important. Let the games advertisements do that. The hardware itself should be trying to stand out.

        I think Microsoft took legitimate criticism when it first announced the new Xbox. It had lots of problems, but like everything on the Internet, people piled on and took it too far. Still doing that. Now, I think they're being unfairly criticized.

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        September 6, 2013 3:42 AM

        Nope, I agree. The fake outrage is dumb. MS has screwed up marketing before, but this is not one of those times.

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 11:00 PM

      Hm an advert aimed at NFL fans during the start of NFL ..... Wow crazy.

      • reply
        September 6, 2013 12:23 AM

        To someone not in the US that context escaped my notice.

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          September 6, 2013 12:27 AM

          I don't imagine the advert has been aired outside the US? I'm from the UK myself can't say i've seen it or expect it on TV here.

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            September 6, 2013 12:31 AM

            Well yeah, that's probably the case. But I don't watch actual tv anymore just itunes and iplayer on occasion.

            • reply
              September 6, 2013 12:36 AM

              So no need to be upset then about a advert being aired in another country that isn't aimed to you and you've only seen because it's been reported on gaming sites.

    • reply
      September 5, 2013 11:14 PM

      No offense but this is a pretty terrible news article. The linked IGN article is actually more informative.

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        September 5, 2013 11:38 PM

        [deleted]

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          September 5, 2013 11:56 PM

          I like Shack and a lot of the content, but this isn't an article... More like a post that found it's way on to the front page for some reason.

    • reply
      September 6, 2013 12:02 AM

      I wonder if Motorola is feeling pressure from this? I mean what's to stop MS from getting in the cable box business?

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        September 6, 2013 1:07 AM

        Cable companies wouldn't carry their hardware. They already hate that the current consoles are eating into their business model with all the steaming content you can access.

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      September 6, 2013 5:13 AM

      To me the XBox One is more like this: Games, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA. Most features announced for the XBOne are either irrelevant or non-existent outside of US (or NA).

    • reply
      September 6, 2013 5:32 AM

      This is still relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbWgUO-Rqcw

    • reply
      September 6, 2013 7:15 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 6, 2013 7:39 AM

      Gamers don't watch TV so I don't see the issue :) /sarcasm

      But seriously this is an ad to air with football games with the kick off of football season. Shocking.

      I don't see people complaining that the iPhone, Galaxy and Lumia ads fail to show people making phone calls.

      It is the Xbox -- of course it is has games. Just like the iPhone of course makes phone calls. As it nears they will start to show off the big named games.

    • reply
      October 15, 2013 11:51 AM

      With a realistic dog.

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