It looks as though someone in Microsoft's marketing department decided it was fine to lift the content of a concept advert and re-purpose it for an official Xbox One ad without crediting the original designer. Now Microsoft is scrambling to figure out how it happened.
As Polygon reports, the concept ad was for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds and created by Reddit user Macsterr. It shows an Xbox One S with a player character from the game wading through a wheat field contained within the console. It's a clever idea, and someone at Microsoft or one of the company's marketing partners decided to copy it.
The Microsoft PUBG ad can be seen above, with Macsterr's original concept below:
Macsterr published the concept a month before the Microsoft version appeared and it got over 63,000 views on Reddit. The subsequent Reddit post claiming Microsoft copied it now has over 90,000 views.
Microsoft noticed and Major Nelson stepped in to comment, stating, "Hey guys, I wanted to let you know that this is being investigated. In the meantime, our official channels have pulled down the asset in question. I'll follow up with the OP /u/macsterr/ once I get more details."
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I suspect Macsterr will be receiving some form of compensation if his claim holds up to scrutiny. Regardless of whether it's a copy or not, the ad is good and if Microsoft can turn this around into some good PR, they'll want to keep using it with Macsterr's permission/blessing.
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