“We had actually pretty much every type of cosmetic issue”
It’s only been a few months since Microsoft introduced the 1TB Xbox Series S to the market, and it appears to be a success so far. However, the actual design of this model appears to have been a major headache for Microsoft’s developers, and this is due to its “Carbon Black” color.
Xbox’s Chris Kujawski recently spoke with Mobile Syrup about how difficult it was to create the Carbon Black 1TB Series S, explaining that the new color introduced a slew of cosmetic issues compared to the original white version, including discoloration, strange spots, weld lines that “looked like tiny cracks in the plastic,” and “certain parts coming out shiny instead of matte.
While the Xbox Series X team would have obviously faced these issues at some point, it appears that it was easier for them because they were able to build around (and ultimately hide) any flaws during the design process. These flaws had to be worked around rather than designed around for the Carbon Black Xbox Series S.
Chris Kujawski had the following to say:
“We had actually pretty much every type of cosmetic issue you can have on a plastic part.”
“It took more engineering builds and cost more money than it typically would or than we that we had initially scoped. But there was no pushback, no complaints about that. It was understood… we have to get it right.”
Chris and his team were eventually able to overcome these obstacles and create a fantastic console in the form of the 1TB Carbon Black Xbox Series S, but it clearly took a lot more effort than anyone had anticipated.
Chris describes it as the “simplest, most complicated project” he’s ever worked on in his 16 years as a designer at Microsoft! Who would have thought that a simple color change would cause so many problems?
“I think this is the simplest, most complicated project that I’ve ever worked on.”