With the Xbox One S and Xbox One X almost here for release, fans of the system are flexing their creativity muscles a bit to show off some artistic flair of their own with some custom skin jobs to the consoles pure, monochromatic shell.
Like a gearhead painting over a hot rod, customizable skins for consoles are a point of personal pride for many creators, such as one known as XboxPope on Twitter. XboxPope, a UK resident, has shown off a number of fan-made custom skin mock ups for the Xbox One S and X, all of which are pure works of art in their own right.
Including in his collection of fanart is the already shown Halo Infinite Skin that is used as the title image for this article, as well as a number of customized skins based on the upcoming and current game franchises. Some of the list includes solid fan-art designs for Star Wars: Squadrons, The Elder Scrolls Series, and, with the recent announcement of Microsoft Acquiring Zenimax Media, some custom images from games like The Evil Within and Fallout 76.
Now it should be noted that none of the above skins are for sale, and most fan-made mock ups aren't. They are ultimately just fans showing off their design skills. In fact, the creation of fan-made skins is nothing new in the gaming world. Players and artists consistently create artistic mock ups of their favorite logos and images for game consoles, from promoting Mixer partners with Xbox Series X skins to fun tributes to cartoon characters like Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants. Many of these mock-ups are found on pinterest, reddit, or promoted on twitter by designers like XboxPope and others.
The actual sale of custom skins, however, is a relatively niche market for consoles. Some examples, such as the website slickwraps, offer the sale of wraps and skins for the likes of phone cases, tablets, and recently, gaming consoles and controllers. Most of their offerings are standard or generic designs, but the effect is ultimately the same, and likely more affordable, than a super custom skin of your favorite cartoon or game decaled on your console.
It's just another part of gaming culture that carves out a little niche of originality for players looking for it. Players can also check out more of this fanart at places like XboxPope's Instagram page, which showcases their whole gallery of images.
The Xbox Series S and Series X are currently scheduled for a November 10th, 2020 release, and preorders started today.
