Shocker: Nobody Bought 360 Faceplates

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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Shocker: Nobody Bought 360 Faceplates



Microsoft revealed that no one wanted to buy those custom 360 faceplates they were selling back when the console launched. Go figure.

Remember how, back when the Xbox 360 launched, you could buy and attach custom faceplates to the console? It's OK if you don't, since nobody bought the darn things, which is one of the reasons that Microsoft phased them out of the design for the new 360 Slim redesign.

Albert Penello, global marketer for Microsoft, recently revealed that the Xbox 360's range of custom faceplates (available through both Microsoft and third party venders) weren't nearly as popular as they were initially expected to be. This isn't surprising, since I seem to remember faceplates selling for up to $30 here in the States and not being terribly impressed at the design options that were available.

"The idea wasn't bad," Penello explained to Official Xbox Magazine. "People used to put faceplates on their cell phones. Rewind five years, faceplates were what everybody wanted to do. "It turned out nobody bought it. So [we stopped] making them. We killed that one pretty quickly."

I was always disappointed that there was no option to create a custom design for a faceplate at a reasonable price. Unsurprisingly, the faceplates are available for <a href=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=360+faceplate&x=0&y=0>rock-bottom prices these days.

Source: <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2010-12-16-microsoft-nobody-bought-360-faceplates>GamesIndustry.biz

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manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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If you got a red-ring would you get it back with your faceplate?

EDIT: For $30 it better be Jesus giving a Velociraptor an uppercut.
 

Outlaw Torn

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Dec 24, 2008
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I bought the blue one when it was discounted. I thought it looked better than a bland white one, although even when it was cheaper it cost too much so I won't shed any tears because I can't buy another one any more.
 

sunami88

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Jun 23, 2008
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Not only were they expensive, they were ugly. I don't think I ever saw one I really wanted to buy (for any price).
 

Snotnarok

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Nov 17, 2008
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They were so god damn expensive who the hell would buy it? Accessories within REASON PEOPLE.
I got a faceplate, except it came with Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick and whatever .
 

Eri

The Light of Dawn
Feb 21, 2009
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Numerous problems were the downfall. Problem 1; Most stores only stocked a few and the few they stocked were generally the worst looking. Problem 2; This left most of the console uncovered and looked bad. Problem 3; Absurdly expensive. Problem 4; Most just plain didn't look good. Them failing had nothing to do with no body wanting one. It had everything to do with their failure at selling it in a viable way etc etc..
 

Armored Prayer

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Mar 10, 2009
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Oh man I forgot about those.

Actually I know one person who bought an Assassins Creed one. Not bad, but the only one I liked was the Halo 3 Grunt version that covered your 360 with Grunts.
 

Loonerinoes

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Apr 9, 2009
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"The idea wasn't bad," Penello explained to Official Xbox Magazine. "People used to put faceplates on their cell phones. Rewind five years, faceplates were what everybody wanted to do. "It turned out nobody bought it. So [we stopped] making them. We killed that one pretty quickly."

Here's a thought for your eggheads...

The reason, why people wanted faceplates on their cell phones, was because you would either a) Always wind up looking towards its direction as you answered calls, typed messages, took pictures, ect. and b) You could wave it around in your buddies' faces to show it off, if you were a bit more of a douchey sort.

With computer consoles you can't do EITHER of those things. It just sits there and everyone will spend 99% of the time looking at the SCREEN as opposed to how colorful your XBox is.

So...fail in basic human behavioural psychology there I think, ON TOP of all the other problems already mentioned ITT.
 

Jamboxdotcom

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Nov 3, 2010
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heh, the only people i knew who had faceplates were Gamestop employees like my brother. and even then, only because they got them for free, either as promotions or because they were pennied out of inventory.
 

ddq5

I wonder what the character limi
Jun 18, 2009
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Wow, this reminded me of when people actually put faceplates on their cell phones. Waaaay back in 2005. They had all those mall kiosks selling them and stuff. Brings back memories, like playing Snake on a monochromatic Nokia screen and not having a texting plan. Technology marches on, I guess?

The reason I never wanted one of those silly faceplates was because the plain white color scheme of my 360 was fine how it was. Never appealed to me.
 

ionveau

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Nov 22, 2009
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Microsoft your consumers are very materialistically driven, This being said they cant really show off their face plates but on the other hand people buy the avatar cloths...why you as? well its easy to show off, whos going to see the plates at home? no one its ok for it to be boring but when showing off they need them.

E.G Do you see how Ipod covers sell like hot cakes? yup they are used for showing off make the xbox portable and you will see the sheep coming in buying in mass its sad but true
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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I actually loved faceplates, but I only bought one (my Viva Pinata one, which looked amazing on my Elite), though I have one or two others that I got as promotions. The designs you could get in a store were usually terrible and not worth the money. You could get some pretty swank custom jobs done, but again, it's a cost/reward thing.
 

Broken Orange

God Among Men
Apr 14, 2009
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Back before the 360 launched, while I was looking at how much it would cost me to get everything, I wanted to buy a faceplate, among many other things. But Christmas came around, ma and pa got me one, and I never got around to buying one. I guess when you are a 16 year old, priorities take prescient. Plus, they weren't that great of designs.
 

GBlair88

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Jan 10, 2009
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You could get a kit that came with a clear faceplate and a card inlay that you could use to make your own design, which seemed like a much better prospect. But I think they were made by another company.

I didn't buy a faceplate because they were too expensive for what they were. If they changed the appearance of the entire console it would look alot better.
 

RJ Dalton

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Aug 13, 2009
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This will, of course, make the faceplates become very valuable in the not-to-distant future as a collector's item.
 

New Troll

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Mar 26, 2009
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At my store we clearanced them down to a quarter and still couldn't get rid of them. I did take a plain white one to customize but almost all the others just ended up in the trash.
 

Ophiuchus

8 miles high and falling fast
Mar 31, 2008
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I remember having a faceplate but can't remember how I got it. I definitely didn't buy it, so it must've been a promotional item of some sort... either way, it never went near the Xbox.

Pretty much the same can be said for the Guitar Hero controller faceplates. I got an official one for free when I bought some random unrelated game, just because the manager of the shop was tired of having them hanging around. Apparently, over the course of a year, they'd only sold two out of their stock of over a hundred.
 

thublihnk

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Jul 24, 2009
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I bought a skin and faceplate pack for my 360 for about 20 bucks maybe a week after I got my 360. I get teased for it to this day, but I liked it back when I was, like, 15 years old. Jeez, that fucking thing is old.

It has skulls on it and says things like 'pwn3d' on it. Yeah, I was a lame 15 year old. I'm also a lame 19 year old.
 

D Moness

Left the building
Sep 16, 2010
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manythings said:
If you got a red-ring would you get it back with your faceplate?
You have to send it in wihout a face plate.

I bought one together with my x-box since i didn't really like the white plate staring at me (used decal stickers for my wii so it isn't white either).

Bought the halo one , complete blue faceplate with master chief on the right side of the console(i do not like halo but the faceplate looks nice).