Xbox is Giving Away Furry Controllers to Promote Sonic Movie

Xbox made furry controllers. There it is. Thats your hook. Theres nothing that I can do, as a journalist, that would make any of this more eye catching than it already is. Well done, xbox, you got me.

But at least I can provide context. Xbox has recently announced a promotional giveaway, promoting the upcoming live action Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. The item theyre giving away? A pair of furry red and blue Xbox controllers, along with a custom Xbox Series S console.

Detailed on the Xbox blog, the custom console features a black body, a golden ring around the air vent, and a graphic of Sonic and Knuckled squared off with each other. The controllers have textured coatings reminiscent of the bristly texture of hedgehogs in the wild. Visually speaking, they appear to be furry as all hell. I don't know if them being bristly is better or worse than being soft. There are 2 controllers, one in Sonic Blue and another in Knuckles Red

This is a special, one time thing. They aren't selling any of these, only giving away this bespoke pair. To actually enter the giveaway, you have to follow Xbox on Twitter and retweet the official sweepstakes tweet, linked here. Folks in the United States will have a second way to enter, however. They can redeem Microsoft Rewards points. More details on that can be found here.

Look, we all know what this. These are weird and off-putting controllers. We know it, Xbox knows it. And thats why this is working. Its weird enough to get people talking. And look at us, talking about it now. Absurdity in marketing is an effective way to get attention. We have no doubt this is what theyre going with.

We dont know if this was Xboxs idea or the Sonic movies PR team. But whoever came up with this one is doing a fantastic job at drawing attention to the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film, which releases in theaters on April 8, 2022.