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UPDATE: Just as we predicted, the headline was changed to a more generic one: "Introducing the Fire Vapor Special Edition controller". The controversial part that stated "Feel the Burn" has been removed entirely.
Original Story: Shutting down studios is nothing out of the ordinary for Microsoft and their announcement of a new controller just an hour after confirming Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog and Roundhouse Games will be closed down forever, is a prime example of just how little they seem to care.
But following up on such devastating news with a new controller alert on their blog wasn't enough so Microsoft decided to spice things up even further with an obnoxious headline that states "Feel the Burn Today with the new Fire Vapor Special Edition Controller".
Now, the blog post was probably pre-scheduled to go live today and it's safe to assume that the poor bloke who wrote it didn't have the faintest idea about the big news today. Despite that, it's quite telling just how messy Xbox are handling these things. If you're announcing that four Bethesda studios are getting axed, it's probably a smart idea to alert the team that Xbox Blog and socials remain silent for the day or even the rest of the week.
Xbox blog does its best to sell the controller to fans with plenty of marketing buzzwords like "boldest", "mesmerising" and "unique". "Feel the power of fire in your hands and hold on to the heat with rubberized, red diamond-pattern grips on the back case," it's written in the article.
At the time of writing this news piece, the blog post announcing the new controller is still up on Xbox's blog with the original headline but we doubt it will stay that way as Xbox fans have already started to call out the team for it, stating that they cannot believe the announcement went live today when Xbox just announced some of the worst news in their history.
Some even added a bit of dark humour to the mix, stating that Xbox gave away the controller to the developers they laid off today with a "You're Fired" message.
We are really hopeful that this is the last of layoffs at Microsoft, who already fired over 1900 people since acquiring Activision Blizzard King last year for $70 billion.
Microsoft added over a dozen new studios over the last couple of years through acquisitions and while fans welcomed such moves initially, they are now concerned that more studios could suffer the fate of Tango and Arkane in the near future if they don't deliver commercially successful titles.
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