Microsoft has built some strange Xbox Series X consoles over the years, but its latest one comes with teeth. The company has unveiled the Xbox Series X-BITE, a working Series X sealed inside a five-foot alligator, and one fan will get to take it home.
Announced on Xbox Wire on November 3, the one-off console is the prize in a social media sweepstakes that runs until November 10. It has also travelled well beyond the US, with searches for “xbox series” passing 10,000 in France on Wednesday, according to Google Trends.
A five-foot alligator from a Jurassic World creature studio
Xbox sums up the idea in a single line: an alligator has swallowed an Xbox Series X whole, and the console still works. The creature measures more than five feet from snout to tail, and the console sits inside its body behind an illuminated Xbox Nexus.
The finishing touches lean fully into the joke. A custom Xbox Wireless Controller covered in bite marks rests between the alligator’s jaws, while its eyes have Xbox-green irises and pupils shaped like the Nexus logo.
Microsoft did not build the console in-house, turning instead to creature and animatronics specialist John Nolan Studio for the 3D modelling, sculpting and fabrication. The studio’s earlier work includes creatures for The Witcher, Jurassic World Dominion and HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series.
The official rules still carry a sensible warning for whoever wins it. Microsoft calls the X-BITE “best as display only”, and it adds that no real alligators were used or harmed in the making of the console. Xbox has a long habit of turning its consoles into props for promotions. In 2024, it gave away a Deadpool & Wolverine Series X with a controller modelled on Deadpool’s backside, but Xbox itself describes the X-BITE as unlike anything it has made before.
How to enter, and why most of the world cannot
Entering takes less than a minute, at least for some fans. Entrants must follow @XBOX on X, Instagram or TikTok, repost one of the designated sweepstakes posts and manually type #XbiteSweepstakes in the repost, while keeping their account public.
On X, the rules ask for a quote repost with the hashtag typed by hand, and reposts without it will not count. Each person can enter once per platform, which means a maximum of three entries across X, Instagram and TikTok.
The catch for most of our readers is eligibility. The sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico who are 18 or older. Fans in France, India and the rest of the world cannot win it, however many times they repost. Entries close at 11:59pm PT on November 10, and a random draw is scheduled for on or around November 11. The potential winner will get a direct message on the platform they entered through and will have 48 hours to reply, or risk losing the prize to an alternate.
That process is worth knowing, because giveaways this popular tend to attract fake accounts. Microsoft’s follow-up after that first message comes from [email protected], so a “winner” message from any other account or address deserves suspicion. The rules also put an official value on the prize. Microsoft lists its approximate retail value at $799.99 for the custom console and controller bundle, which is a modest figure for a one-of-one creature build that took a film studio to make.
Florida, GTA 6 and Xbox’s 25th anniversary month
Xbox has framed the whole campaign around a trip to Florida this November, describing the state as home to incredible wildlife and “stories you have to see to believe”. It has not tied the console to any game, but the timing has not gone unnoticed. Grand Theft Auto VI, set in the Florida-inspired state of Leonida, launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, and its pre-orders have already passed $750 million, according to Sensor Tower. Some fans and outlets have read the alligator as a nod to Rockstar’s game, although Microsoft has made no such link.
The X-BITE also lands in a big month for Xbox itself. The original Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001, so the brand turns 25 this month. Xbox is marking the occasion with a FanFest in Seattle on November 12, and the first wave of November’s Game Pass titles has already been announced.
