The Worst-Looking Xbox Consoles Ever Made

Throughout its life, the Xbox line of consoles has strived to deliver the best-looking graphics of each generation. However, the platform has always lagged behind its competition in terms of the look of the actual console. While Sony and Nintendo have manufactured some generally iconic models, Microsoft's Xboxes always look like, well, boxes. That isn't to say every iteration of the Xbox is unattractive, but some definitely got hit with the ugly stick.

When you think about bad-looking Xbox consoles, the ill-fated original Xbox One probably comes to mind since it was so bulky and plain that it resembled old Betamax players — a physical video format that lost to VCRs. However, it is far from the ugliest Xbox ever made. Most official Xboxes look passable, but once you get into special edition and giveaway territory, you start to see some truly ugly stuff. Some look bad because of seriously botched execution, while others are the victim of poor design and taste.

Here are 10 of the worst-looking consoles to ever bear the name "Xbox," ordered from most appealing (relatively speaking) to the absolute worst. Please keep in mind that this list is wholly based on my opinion and by no means objective. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and if you like any of the consoles in this article, you're not wrong.

One issue surrounding the concept of ugliness is intentionality. Is a design unappealing by accident or because it was deliberately made that way? And how would you even know? Regardless, an ugly console by design is still ugly.

"PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," or just "PUBG" for short, is widely regarded as the first major battle royale game. The genre actually originated in certain "Minecraft" servers, but the game is still the longest-running standalone battle royale title. To celebrate its seventh season (three years after the launch), PUBG Studios teamed up with art studio Vadu Amka to create a custom Xbox One X that was given away via a Facebook sweepstakes. However, the console is far from Vadu Amka's best work. This particular project was done up to resemble freshly destroyed concrete, complete with exposed rebar mesh. The accompanying controller was also caked in the same material, and quite frankly looks uncomfortable to hold thanks to its bumpy surfaces.

In the spirit of fairness, Vadu Amka has a lot of experience producing custom consoles. The company recently customized an Xbox Series X into Ultramarine fortifications from "Space Marine 2" that even the God Emperor of Mankind would be proud of. Vadu Amka also created some glorious controllers to celebrate "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" that look like leatherbound wood. Admittedly, "PUBG" isn't a pretty game; every round, 100 players parachute onto a remote island, and only one makes it out alive by any means necessary. However, Vadu Amka might have taken this concept a little too far with their console.

"Grand Theft Auto" is one of the best-selling game franchises of all time, and hopes were definitely high when Rockstar Games announced "Grand Theft Auto IV," the first series entry for seventh-generation consoles. Of course, the studio delivered what is considered to be the best entry in the series. However, the same can't be said for its tie-in material.

To celebrate the release of "GTA IV," Microsoft gave away 500 special Xbox 360s — 50 were given to hip-hop celebrities; 100 were given to sweepstakes winners, and the rest were sent to members of the press and Rockstar Games devs. Unfortunately, what people received was just a simple black console with the game's box art slapped on the side. On its own, the art looks good, but on the side of a console, it seems lazy, which makes the result unappealing.

Microsoft didn't initially learn its lesson from this blunder. Upon the release of the game's first DLC, "The Lost and Damned," the company created 190 more black Xbox 360s with the DLC's box art once again slapped on the side. The result is more or less the same unappealing lazy design work. At least when Rockstar Games released the Nintendo DS entry "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars," the special edition tie-in console sported a far more appealing and stylish image of the protagonist. Plus, the picture wasn't ripped straight from the box art, which by itself was a massive improvement over Microsoft's attempt.

Many gamers consider EA Sports to be a bad joke. Every new year, the company releases a new version of games like "Madden," and every year, critics and players find more and more cut game modes and recycled content. Unfortunately, this design philosophy extends to limited edition consoles, too.

Back in the burgeoning days of social media, acquiring 1 million likes was actually a big deal. To celebrate the EA Sports Facebook page's millionth like, EA held a sweepstakes with the grand prize of a custom EA Sports-styled Xbox 360. On one hand, this wasn't the original 360 — it was an Xbox 360 S, which had a sleeker case and an internal HDD. But on the other hand, the console's surface was coated in continually repeating EA Sports logos of varying shapes and sizes. Even the power button and disc drive cover were marred by these picture pimples, creating an overwhelming mess of visual stimuli.

Granted, EA wasn't the only company to try this type of design. Previously, Ecko Unlimited allegedly held a sweepstakes to give one lucky winner a custom Xbox 360 (the original model) sporting a similar display of the brand's iconography. However, while the result wasn't picturesque, it wasn't anywhere near as ugly as the EA Sports console because the designer showed some restraint. The Ecko symbols vary between black and orange to reduce visual noise. Plus, only the sides bear the images; the front panel is a solid orange.

Every video game franchise has a mascot. Usually, you see their face on key art, advertisements, and of course box art. To sell as many copies as possible, talented individuals draw these images. However, all it takes is one mistake to create yet another "Monkey Christ."

For their January 2004 issue, Das Offiziell Xbox Magazin (Germany's official Xbox magazine) held a contest to win a custom airbrushed Xbox featuring the iconic Ivy Valentine from "Soulcalibur 2." To say the painting doesn't do the character justice would be both an understatement and an insult to fans of the franchise.

The painted Xbox has almost too many issues to list. Despite featuring shading meant to invoke a sense of three-dimensionality, the painting looks flat and lifeless, and that's just the execution. Ivy is horribly off model with too wide a face and creepy-looking teeth. For those who don't know, Ivy is supposed to fall under the "femme fatale" trope of character design. She dresses like a dominatrix and uses a sword that can extend to create a bladed whip to win matches. The airbrushed image doesn't convey any of Ivy's devious and seductive character, which combines with the flat presentation to create an ugly Xbox.

These days, you can play plenty of excellent online games through Xbox's Game Pass, Xbox Live Gold, PlayStation Now, or for free depending on the pricing model. We may take it for granted now, but during the seventh console generation, porting online games from PC to consoles was an event worth celebrating.

In February of 2014, Microsoft and Wargaming.net announced that the team-based tank combat sim "World of Tanks" was coming to Xbox 360. Several custom World of Tanks consoles were manufactured as part of the celebration. However, each device turned out to be a monochromatic mess. The console is covered in white and black lines that criss-cross in seemingly random directions. You can make out the "World of Tanks" logo, the Xbox symbol, and some black and white tanks, but taking your eyes off one section of the console and looking at another makes it easy to lose your sense of direction on the image. It's like a labyrinth for your brain. At least the custom controllers, while also monochromatic, are a much more comprehensible series of gears and cogs.

Thankfully, Wargaming.net learned from its mistakes for subsequent custom consoles. These included an Xbox One skin featuring a tank rolling across a battlefield, a white Xbox One S with the "World of Tanks" logo on top, and several hand painted Xbox One Xs customized to resemble well-used tank armor. It also used these lessons to commission a huge Xbox Series X display piece designed to look like the USS Texas for another one of its games, "World of Warships."

Many artists know how to use the human brain's little quirks to their advantage. For instance, photomosaics utilize our tendency to see patterns even where none exist to transform a bunch of tiny images into one big picture viewers can appreciate. However, putting a bunch of small images together without any macro-cohesion can confuse the brain.

To celebrate the release of "UFC 4," the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization hosted a giveaway for a custom Xbox Series X sporting numerous fight posters. While the posters themselves are displayed in an easy-to-follow grid, they are so small that you can't appreciate any of their details without smooshing your face right up against the Xbox. Plus, the posters are placed without any obvious pattern; it's just poster after poster surrounded by more posters over the entire surface. As a result, the console looks like visual noise that just strains your eyes if you look at it too long.

The UFC has had better luck with special editions of other consoles. For instance, the limited "UFC 4" edition of the Xbox One X's graffiti decoration looks much more appealing. And my inner kung fu fan screams to own the Bruce Lee-themed PlayStation 4 (which counts since it included a copy of "UFC 4"). It's almost a shame the UFC didn't try again and create another limited edition Xbox for "UFC 5."

In 2010, the Xbox 360 reached the ever-coveted millionth sale milestone in the Australia and New Zealand region. In recognition of this achievement, Microsoft decided to kill two Kookaburras with one stone by selling special editions of Xbox consoles for the David Peachey Foundation charity. Each Xbox 360 was customized to feature the likeness and signature of famous celebrities. However, not all the results did the celebs justice.

Arguably the ugliest Xbox to come out of the charity bore the face and signature of Kim Kardashian. Now, I'm not saying Kim Kardashian is ugly, but her custom Xbox image is kind of creepy. The colors are flat, and there is just something off about her face that makes it look like she wants to eat whatever or whomever she's looking at. This feeling can probably be explained by the uncanny valley, a phenomenon where robots designed to look realistic seem eerie instead. Of course, Kim Kardashian isn't a robot, but the charity console certainly makes her look like one.

Kim Kardashian's Xbox wasn't the only celebrity whose likeness was botched by the charity painters. Australian actress and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model Elle Macpherson also participated, and her console counterpart looks just as lifeless as the Kardashian painting. While Macpherson's picture lacks the Kardashian images "I'm going to eat you" eyes, it instead is seemingly baring its teeth at...something. The image again channels the uncanny valley and makes Elle Macpherson look much more unappealing.

Capcom and Microsoft wanted to make the release of "Devil May Cry 5" an event to remember. To achieve this, the companies created several custom Xbox consoles. We don't just mean Capcom and Microsoft produced several special editions; the consoles channeled different design ideas themed around the game, and not all of them were pretty.

While one custom Xbox One X was designed to look like V's book from "Devil May Cry 5," and another was covered in "stickers" similar to those on Nico's van, the third one looks like, well, I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but it definitely resembles a badly burned meatloaf. Maybe it was intended to resemble a river of blood flowing down a demonic riverbank, but the execution looks more like something out of a particularly harrowing episode of Kitchen Nightmares (which has its own YouTube channel, by the way).

Apparently, four of these meatloafy Xbox One X consoles were made and given away via Microsoft's U.S. social media accounts. And of course, each one was bundled with a copy of "Devil May Cry 5." Usually, these full customizations come out looking decent, if not amazing — just look at the custom Xboxes made for "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." However, for whatever reason, the "Devil May Cry 5" ones just look unappetizing.

While many food and drink brands are sold worldwide, ad campaigns vary from country to country. In France, much of the Oasis beverage marketing efforts revolve around the "Oasis Be Fruit" campaign, which features anthropomorphic fruit characters who get into all sorts of shenanigans. They have their own YouTube channel, as well as a custom Xbox skin.

In 2018, the French Twitter account for Oasis held a sweepstakes where participants could win a custom Xbox One featuring the face of its orange-themed mascot. And when I say face, I mean it. The CG rendering on the console has a creepy, wide smile with unnaturally perfect and flat teeth, and wide eyes that seemingly stare into your soul. The "Oasis Be Fruit," Xbox, and "Orange Presslé" (French for "Orange Pressed") logos don't make the orange look any less unnerving.

The custom Xbox's controller is arguably worse than the console since it too bears the CGI orange's face. This could be an optical illusion, but it looks like the eyes of orange on the controller are even more bug-eyed, and the mouth is even more agape. The controller looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a "Nightmare on Elm Street" film. Well, a kid-friendly one, but my point that this custom controller and console could easily give someone nightmares still stands.

To promote "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," Microsoft held a sweepstakes where one lucky entrant could win a customized Xbox Series S. Well, maybe not so lucky since the console included furry controllers — easily some of the strangest Xbox controllers we've ever seen. What could be more unappealing than a furry controller? A furry console, that's what.

The Gori Cuddly Carnage Xbox Series X console is the definition of "hold my beer" design. To celebrate the release of "Gori Cuddly Carnage" (an indie game where you use a hoverboard to slice up zombie unicorns), TrueAchievements.com collaborated with the game's publisher, Wired Productions, for a giveaway. The grand prize was, obviously, a custom one-of-a-kind Xbox Series X done up in orange fur.

Not to deride TrueAchievements or Wired Productions, but do I even have to explain why this console is so ugly? Every inch except the power button, vents, I/O slots, and disc drive are covered in fur. The console looks like a neon oblong Tribble from "Star Trek," and don't even get me started on how easily hair can slip into and clog the openings. Granted, this design is very much in line with the game's tone, but that doesn't mean it is attractive or even logical — the last thing anyone wants covering their game console is a dust magnet.