Deleted photo suggests a white Xbox Series X is in the works

A mysterious image that looks an awful lot like a white Xbox Series X controller leaked on Reddit this weekend, The Verge reports. The image — along with “Wolfy_Wizzardo,” the user that posted it — has since been deleted. Wolfy claims to have taken the picture at a party hosted by the child of a Microsoft employee in Washington State. The Verge says the user had been posting about topics in Seattle for months before being deleted.

It’s still pandemic season, we’re running out of in-home entertainment to ward off existential crises, and we’re grappling in the dark for any and all news about the next-gen consoles we’ve been waiting years for. So even this meager morsel of potential Xbox news is very exciting indeed. And maybe we’re reading into this too much, but… could this mean Microsoft is planning to release the Series X in more than one color?

If it looks like the Series X and quacks like the Series X… — There is, of course, no way to confirm that this image is real. And if it is there’s no way to know whether or not it’s a real controller and not some sort of mock-up or model.

But let us, for the moment, assume it is a working controller. Its layout matches up exactly with the layout of the black Xbox Series X controller Microsoft has already unveiled. Everything is in its rightful place, from the new D-pad to the Share button.

So, though it’s not confirmed by any stretch of the imagination, for now, we’ll just say it looks very likely that this is a second color option for the Series X controller. It could be that, like Sony, Microsoft plans to release two versions of its console, one with an optical drive and a cheaper version without. It could be that the white version is one of the variants.

Console color options or nah? — Where there’s a white controller there’s likely a white console not far behind, right? That’s what quite a few Reddit commenters have suggested. Maybe we’ll be seeing a white Xbox Series X option alongside the already-announced black edition.

The Verge reports also that it spoke to Reddit user Wolfy Wizzardo before the account was deleted. The user claimed to have played a white version of the console that “looked more squarish and the Xbox button looked bigger on it.”

We’re not getting our hopes up too high for buying up that coveted second console color option, though. Microsoft released a special white edition of the Xbox One for employees only before the console’s release — so this could definitely be the same deal.

Either way, we’ll be savoring this crumb of potential next-gen console information until we finally hear more about when we can get our hands on the Series X (in any color, thanks).