Xbox has found a way to ride the Grand Theft Auto VI wave without saying its name. The company revealed the Xbox Series X-BITE, a one-of-a-kind console built inside a five-foot alligator that it is giving away. The Florida theming is far from subtle.
The X-BITE is a real working console, built with GTA 6 clearly in mind. Creature effects studio John Nolan Studio built the alligator replica, with the Xbox nestled inside and fully playable. It has an illuminated Xbox Nexus glow through the body, with Xbox-green eyes and Nexus-shaped pupils. The custom controller sits in the jaws, bite marks and all.
As Xbox makes it clear, no real alligators were involved with the creation of the not-so-obvious GTA 6-related product.
Unfortunately, it is a giveaway. Xbox is running the X-BITE as part of a sweepstakes, open only to US residents over the ages of 18 who follow the verified Xbox account and repost the announcement with the hashtag, with entries closing November 10. Its Xbox Wire announcement says Xbox is "heading to Florida" this November, ready to play "some of the biggest games of the year." Neither line names a single game.
The game it has in mind is obvious anyway. Grand Theft Auto VI is set in a fictional Florida called Leonida, with Vice City at its heart and alligators all through its marketing. A Florida alligator console arriving the same month as the biggest Florida game ever made is not a coincidence. Xbox never confirms the link, so this stays a wink rather than an official tie-in, but nobody is missing the point.
The workaround exists for a reason. Sony holds the Grand Theft Auto VI marketing partnership, the one behind the "plays best on PlayStation" push, so Xbox cannot run the game in an ad the way Sony can. Sony has gone the official route with two Vice City-inspired DualSense controllers arriving on launch day. Xbox could not do that, and the alligator is its workaround.
Xbox and Sony in the GTA 6 launch window
Detail | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Signature move | The one-off Series X-BITE alligator console, given away | Two Vice City-inspired DualSense controllers |
Names the game | No, GTA 6 is never mentioned | Yes, a full marketing partnership |
Official console bundle | None | None |
Accessories for sale | None, the X-BITE is a single unit | Limited DualSense editions, around $84.99 |
The game itself | $79.99 standard, November 19 | Same price and date, PS5 Pro Enhanced |
Sony has the official deal and the controllers, so Xbox answered with a five-foot alligator.
The alligator fits a bigger Xbox push around the launch. Microsoft is reportedly ramping up Xbox production to meet demand, with fans still waiting to see whether Xbox will list an official GTA 6 bundle at all. It also slots into the wider Florida takeover, with Rockstar Games' partners turning Miami into a real-life Vice City for the launch. For anyone still deciding between the two, the PS5 versus Xbox choice comes down to more than a novelty console.
With that said, you can't blame Xbox and its relatively newly minted CEO Asha Arma for trying to even the field. After being reportedly left in the dust when it comes to GTA 6 pre-order sales, a report that it has denied more than once, Xbox put a console in an alligator, a hard-to-ignore way to get in on the biggest party of the year. One lucky fan in the US gets a wild prize out of it, and the marketing fight around this launch is turning out to be as entertaining as the game itself.