Xbone: Is The Xbox One Nickname Just An Insulting XB1 Meme By PS4 Fanboys?
The usage of Xbone has Xbox One fans hopping mad, especially when the PS4 fanboys claim Microsoft has “xboned” them. But is Xbone an acceptable term or just an insulting XB1 meme?
In a related report by The Inquisitr, the Xbox One vs PS4 console battle has fanboys arguing over graphics, but it’s possible both fall far short of what they should have been, with the PlayStation 4 barely able to handle 1080p at 60FPS. The latest debate has Xbone fans insulting the lack of a Titanfall PS4 port.
The first time I ever saw the phrase Xbone it was first used in a non-pejorative sense by gaming media as part of article titles. This was shortly after the announcement of the name by Microsoft, but Sony fans immediately turned Xbone into a meme based upon Call Of Duty: Ghosts:
Since the launch of the console the popularity of Xbone dropped sharply, although, according to Google, it’s still more popular than XB1. Because of this fact, online publications including The Inquisitr continue to use it even though some consider the term unprofessional now. The situation can be compared to cancelled vs canceled. Overall, the British variant is four times times as popular in searches even in the US, thus we tend to use cancelled even though that’s grammatically improper.
But is Xbone recognized by other companies as still being a legitimate term? Both Google and Microsoft-owned Bing recognize it as being the equivalent of Xbox One on the search engines results page. Urban Dictionary just identifies Xbone as being the Xbox One. There’s also Xbox.info, which continues to release information and reviews of Xbox One games in a non-derogatory manner. Other online-only media outlets will occasionally use the term in their titles, as well.
Even though Major Nelson said Xbone “disrespects” Microsoft employees who work on the Xbox One, Microsoft ended up buying Xbone.com and now it’s run by Mark Monitor, a company that manages brand names. In the end, Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer conceded Xbone was here to stay:
“At first, I guess the thing that bugged me the most is I didn’t see it. I’d been looking at the name for Xbox One for months, and I wasn’t clever enough to merge them and come up with ‘Xbone’. I think it’s going to stick. I think we can say we don’t like it as much as we want, but it’s a clever use of the name. Probably not the most flattering name, but I think it’s going to be there.”
To summarize, while some consider the term derogatory, writers continue to use it because of its “popularity” on search engines in addition to Xbox One and XB1. When readers stop searching for Xbone, then writers will stop using it. Do you think using Xbone should always be considered unprofessional?
