Loneliness among the elderly is on the rise, with 1m older people going over a month without speaking to anyone (source: Age UK). And during Covid-19, that sense of isolation worsened. Yet the virtual worlds of gaming have become places where gamers can build and maintain real-world relationships. ‘Beyond Generations’, aimed at bridging that generational divide, by showing the relationship-building potential of today’s games.The platform featured two documentary films, each following the real-life stories of families who had lost touch, whether it was through distance or just growing apart. Shot over the course of 4 weeks, during the pandemic, we follow them on their quest to reconnect via the virtual worlds of gaming. These films lived on Xbox’s YouTube page, as well as being promoted on social channels.Xbox also partnered with leading retirement home network, RetirementVillages.co.uk to supply consoles in a number of their homes across the UK.
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Xbox launched ‘Beyond Generations’, an initiative to connect young and old through the power of gaming. Realising that the majority of the elderly population don’t own consoles, we saw an opportunity to help empower young gamers to gift their old consoles to the elderly people in their lives. ‘ReBoxing’ Kits were made available to download online. It had everything that was needed to get an old console ready, and also made it super-simple for an elderly person to set up. A ‘what’s in the box’ page acted as both a check list for the sender, and a handy contents list for the recipient. Paper tags could be cut out and affixed to each component, informing and instructing the elderly person to its use. And it was all topped off with a greetings card to write a personalised heartfelt message for their grandparents.Xbox wanted to help bridge the generational divide, but it didn’t feel right to target the elderly. Instead, we wanted to encourage and facilitate the younger generation to make the first move. We knew that the vast majority of elderly wouldn’t own a console or even consider buying one. But we knew young gamers would soon be upgrading to the next generation console (the Xbox Series S), which meant there would be a window of opportunity where their old consoles would be lying around collecting dust. Xbox wanted to make gifting an old console a no-brainer, by making the process as simple as possible and also showing the benefits gaming could bring to their grandparents.The ‘Beyond Generations’ platform was launched in the UK on 18 Dec 2020. Two documentary films were commissioned; each followed the real-life stories of two different families who had lost touch, whether it was through distance or just growing apart. Shot over the course of 4 weeks, ReBoxed Xbox consoles were gifted to the elderly relatives by their grandkids, and new relationships were formed over games. The films lived on Xbox’s YouTube page, as well as being promoted on social channels.A dedicated landing page was launched for the ‘Beyond Generations;’ initiative, where the ‘ReBoxing’ kit could be downloaded and printed at home. A handy ‘how to’ video also gave useful hints and tips how to ReBox an old console. Xbox also created the first ‘ReBoxing’ video, subverting the popular trend of unboxing videos.Xbox also partnered with leading retirement home network, RetirementVillages.co.uk to supply consoles in a number of their homes across the UK.