Microsoft Employees to get white Xbox One [Update: it’s fake]

UPDATE: It’s most likely that this image is a fake, according to Graeme Selvan, PR manager for Xbox South Africa. Selvan’s comment is below.

“While this image looks great, it’s a fake. As an official response directly from an XBOX employee I can state that I will be purchasing my own console on release day and not getting it for free.”

No free console for YOU, Xbox employee. The original story follows.

Did you work on the Xbox One? Were you part of the team that the designed, marketed, lusted over the upcoming super-console? Then according to this post on Imgur, you’re getting a free, white Xbox One. Congratulations. Everyone else in the world will have to shell out US$499 come launch day.

If the picture is to be believed, then Microsoft employees who were part of team Xbox One will get:

• A Special Edition Xbox One in white which is “unique for our Team”
• One free year of Xbox Live
• All “1P games (best guess, all single player games on launch day)
• A special achievement (“world’s luckiest employee”?)
• An etching on the side that says “I made this”

And best, it’s “all for free”. Considering the price of the Xbox One (US$499/R5 000) a free console would sit well in our conscious. The colour of an original Xbone is “liquid black”, and this “Microsoft white” with silver tones (we made that up) tone while desirable, wouldn’t sit in too well with out all-black TV and audio equipment.

Here’s another interesting fact that might push this tale into legitimate territory. If this was an obvious Photoshop, wouldn’t it have been wise to have painted the Kinect in white as well? The image doesn’t even mention the new Kinect, so clearly it’s a very specific console that Microsoft will push out in extremely limited numbers. Expect to see it fetch thousands of dollars when it hits eBay.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will let you know if and when this Xbox is confirmed.