“Protracted continuation of the viral story” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Alexander Levi explains why the corporation decided to release a device that looks similar to the Xbox Series X console.

Microsoft’s situational marketing has dragged on: the IT giant has released the third version of the refrigerator. The food storage cabinet received branded green lighting, two shelves, holders for jars and bottles, thermostat adjustment and a chamber volume of 91 liters, 11 of which are in the freezer compartment. There are no special Microsoft technologies or any variations of artificial intelligence in the new product. And the device itself is a protracted continuation of the viral story.

It began back in 2019, when, after the presentation of the Xbox Series X game console, the company received a lot of reactions from the audience, the meaning of which boiled down to the funny external resemblance of the game console to a refrigerator. Then Microsoft decided to play up the situation and released a full-size refrigerator styled like a console. By the way, hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg received a copy of it on a 1:1 scale as a gift for his birthday.

Afterwards, a compact version of the Mini Fridge went on sale, which saw the light of day thanks to the so-called battle of brands that took place in X (formerly Twitter). The head of the Xbox marketing team, Aaron Greenberg, promised retail sales of the refrigerator if it wins. The above had to be carried out, but the resulting household appliance turned out to be truly mini: approximately 47 cm in height, 23 cm in width and length. The user has 9 liters of cooled volume at his disposal. Later a second version was released. Its external dimensions were almost the same as the original Xbox Series X game console. But the usable cooling space was halved.

The current version is ready to accept 18 cans on the inside of the door alone, and Microsoft engineers have placed a drawer at the bottom to keep fruits and vegetables fresh. Of course, this is not a proper full-size refrigerator. You can try to integrate it into a standard kitchen set. This seems realistic with dimensions in height, length and width of 85 cm, 52 cm and 48 cm, respectively. But why hide the device? After all, its meaning lies precisely in the external imitation of the console.

The cost of Microsoft’s new product is about $200, which is at least two and a half times lower than the price of the Xbox Series X console itself.