Xbox boss Phil Spencer gets his hands on the PS5 Pro: “The X button’s in the wrong place”

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been captured on video holding a DualSense and talking about the PS5 Pro, and he jokingly judged the controller for placing the X button in the wrong place.

The joke is in reference to the different position of the X button on the Xbox controller relative to the PS5 controller. In the video, you can see Spencer at this year’s Tokyo Game Show playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth next to Xbox president Sarah Bond and examining a DualSense controller. He remarks, “So, the X button is in the wrong place” to laughter, adding, “The X button is supposed to be over there. Yeah, A, B, X, Y.”

There’s an obvious playful, jovial tone to Spencer’s remarks, and in the past he’s repeatedly praised the DualSense controller for both innovating and potentially inspiring future changes to the Xbox controller design. 

Still, the official Xbox Twitter account was quick to double down on the gag with a post that reads, “ICYMI: This is where the X button goes,” with an up-close image of the Xbox controller and an arrow pointing to the position of the button. Nothing like a little healthy competition in meme format.

Also, am I going to ‘well, actually’ Phil Spencer by pointing out that PlayStation controllers don’t technically have X buttons, they have “Cross buttons”? Why yes, yes I am, and I’m not even a little bit sorry about it.

Now let’s all get along and play the best PS5 games and the best Xbox Series X games available now.