Microsoft recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of theXboxconsole, and it was a pretty big celebration.Halo Infinite’s multiplayer was surprise-launched, and many old games were made backwards compatible with Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One,includingTimeSplitters 2andTimeSplitters: Future Perfect.
Microsoft wants to make sure that everyone knows about the long legacy ofXboxand the games that put it on the map today. To that effect, it teamed up with Netflix for a promotional stunt that is tied together with the Xbox Vault and, of course, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
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The promotion takes the form of a sweepstakes that players can enter to win prizes themed around Xbox and the new Netflix movieRed Notice, which stars Johnson alongside Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds. Johnson plays an FBI profiler hunting art thieves in the show, and this ties in with how players enter the sweepstakes. They must go to a virtual version of the Xbox Vault and answer all the trivia questions about the objects there. The more they get right, the more entries they get into the sweepstakes. Playing through the76 newly backwards compatible games for Xboxmight help.
The prizes in question are varied and interesting to say the least. At the low end, there are 1,000 trading cards forRed Noticethat come with limited Xbox Game Pass Ultimate codes, and just above that are 20Red Notice-themed Xbox Series X consoles. After that are three Cleopatra Eggs modelled after a prop from the show and, finally, the grand prize: an oil painting of the Rock presenting the original Xbox. It was, after all, the Rock who introduced the first Xbox console, and now players can own the moment immortalized on canvas. Many fans will likely consider that a much betterad than what Walmart released using Xbox.
This is definitely an odd way to do a sweepstakes and an odd tie-in, made only slightly less odd by Johnson’s involvement. Considering the fact thatXbox Game Pass was originally imagined as a rental service, perhaps this won’t be the last time Xbox and Netflix collaborate.
Whatever the case, it’s a little unfortunate that this is the Netflix film thatXboxchose to focus on with the collaboration. WhileRed Noticeis by no means terrible, the general consensus is that it’s not exactly the finest hour for any of its three leads.
