It’s coming up to December, which means we’re seeing all types of wholesome, emotional Christmas adverts trying to cause viewers to tear up, sniff a little bit, smile and share it with their friends. Microsoft has pushed their own Christmas advert this year with a video that can be found below.
In the advert we see a boy leaving his house, running through the snow shouting, “He’s gonna do it!”. As he runs to his location he makes various stop offs to rally a group of friends. “Owen’s going to do it!” the boy shouts as he continues to gather more friends. The music swells as they enter the house and there sits Owen, a young boy concentrating while using the Xbox Adaptive Controller to complete a video game that is never revealed. His friends all gathered around jump up and cheer and celebrate as the line, “When everybody plays, we all win” appears over the video.
Owen is a nine-year-old boy who has Escobar Syndrome which limits his mobility, but using the Xbox Adaptive Controller allows him to continue his passion for gaming. The boy running through the town is his real-life best-friend, Gunnar.
The advert is a touching tribute to Microsoft’s goal to make video games more accessible to players. The Xbox Adaptive Controller —which was announced in May— was listed as one of the best inventions of 2018 in Time’s Magazine. It’s a controller that was built for those with limited mobility and features interchangeable pieces to suit the controller to the user. Even the packaging is accessible as shown in the unboxing video that launched in July.
You can watch the Christmas advert below, but be prepared to feel some feelings. The Xbox Adaptive Controller is also available now and exclusive to the Xbox One and can also be connected to a PC/Windows 10.