Key takeaways
- Phil Spencer played on the PS5 at the Tokyo Game Show, and joked about the X button being in the wrong place.
- However, this has only revived the old debate about what this button should be called, as some insist that it should be referred to as the “cross button”.
- But, we all know this
is
X button. I don't care what Sony says.
The Tokyo Game Show is on right now, letting attendees try out a bunch of different games. One of those attendees is, surprisingly, Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who was recorded playing on the PlayStation 5 on the show floor.
Not surprisingly, Spencer made a quick jab at the PS5 controller, joking that “the X button is in the wrong place,” while on the Xbox controller, it's on the left. However, in doing so, Spencer has inadvertently reignited an old debate: What do you call the X button?
Everyone is debating what to call the X button again
Now, I thought we all agreed that it was the X button. Like, ecks, ex, or however you want to type it. Who looks at X and says “cross”? Well, except for nuts and bolts, but that's different, right?
But as many have pointed out, this appears to be Sony's official position on the matter is Cross button. So, maybe Sony fans are technically correct in the answers. Still, as we see from Spencer in the video, ever since the first PlayStation launched in 1994, there will always be an instinct for the “X button.” I don't think it will take anything like that.
In the wrong position for the X button, that's the case with every controller. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all have X buttons on their controllers, but can never agree on where to put them. It's a nightmare. However most of us rely more on muscle memory at this point.
Anyway, I'm with Spencer on this one, and it seems most others are too. I've never seen a video game referred to as a cross button, and I'm certainly not going to start now.
Phil Spencer
Phil Spencer is the current CEO of Microsoft's gaming division. He has been with the company since 1988, and is known as a gamer, moving to the Xbox team after the launch of the console in 2001.
