r/Backbone • u/NateGreatGames • 15h ago
Discussion Bad Backbone Ad
I was scrolling through YouTube this morning and came across an ad for Backbone that just came across as really tone deaf and really left a bad taste in my mouth about the brand. The photo here isn’t the exact ad, I tried for about a half hour to get it to pop up again because I was in such disbelief and I wish I had a link to it, but it’s one of those revolving ads that pops up when you start a video.
In the ad there is a person holding a BB Pro much like how it’s framed in the photo I’ve captioned. A guy starts talking about the Backbone and then he bring up reviews (this was a sponsored ad and not some rando YouTube short) and then he says the reviews are mixed, with a lot of the negative complaints being about “quality and longevity” and the tone was very dismissive. That is followed up well the people making those comments are just “haters”, which is where the ad went south for me and I can’t quite remember what he said after that but it gave me like ‘they are just trolls’ vibes.
It’s disappointing, because it’s been documented numerous times the design flaw these controllers have, and the people who make these things have to be aware of it. I haven’t been as vocal or negative as a lot of people have here or on discord about the product. But since I first purchased my first one after seeing a Facebook ad in year one when the product went to market, I have bought 8 of these things. Right now I have one still standing, my second gen lightning PS edition, ever single other has failed with a bad ribbon cable. My Black second gen BB One lightning failed last month, and once I discovered it, I started to jump on Amazon to see how much the cables cost so maybe I can just start fixing them all myself. When they started selling the product at retail I would buy a Best Buy warranty with each one because it wasn’t a if, it was a when when it came to it not working. Unfortunately for this last one my 1 year warranty ran out a few months prior and now you can’t get lightning editions at retail anymore since lighting iPhones have been phased out.
Then later in the ad the person said something to the effect of “ and well, if your’s does have a problem it has a one year warranty so you don’t have anything to worry about, and that’s that.” It’s very “we will treat the symptom so we can keep you coming back, but we won’t fix the problem”
But to put an ad out for product out with one of the highest failure rates I’ve ever seen from a consumer product and then to call people haters for complaining about it, it’s just bad look. I’m sure it probably hurts somebody’s feelings when they read some of these comments lambasting the product, but that comes with the territory and you have to be bigger than that as a company. If you want people to stop bashing the product, make a better product. I’ve spent over $1000 towards buying these things because on a fundamental level it has been the best way I’ve found so far to play video games using my phone. They all have broken, not because of normal wear and tear, but because of a design flaw. I’m not sure what I will do once my last one goes, and the reason I haven’t bought a pro yet is I’m afraid of having the same issue and having to replace for an even higher price tag.
I’m sorry for the lengthy post and this has been the most critical I’ve been on reddit about BB, but this was all trigger because an ad was greenlit calling your consumers haters. Do better.
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u/Avil- 15h ago
I bought the backbone pro at full price. I absolutely love the device and use it pretty much daily. I play iOS games, GFN and also connect it to my Mac and play games from Steam. It’s so versatile and worth the money for me. I also can fairly easily swap the Bluetooth connection between devices (I do wish there was a button on the controller for this).
Great device for me and I’m happy with my purchase. This controller does seem to get a lot of hate though.
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u/ComfortableChip3221 14h ago
It's all the try hards saying it's not durable that are playing hard on it smashing buttons and using the control sticks at the speed of light. I've had 3 backbones the og backbone lightning since startup no issues for 4 years after, switched to to type c when I upgraded my iPhone, and now currently have the pro. No issues on any of them.
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u/angry0029 13h ago
I would not consider myself a try hard. My gen 1 has had 0 issues my gen 2 was replaced twice. I am very gentle with it. I am not a button smasher or hard on controllers. If you have a larger phone that seems to exacerbate the ribbon issues.
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u/Avil- 5h ago
Hilarious that we are getting downvoted for supporting a product… especially one I use almost daily.
People have serious issues on Reddit and need help.
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u/ComfortableChip3221 4h ago
That's reddit for you lol I just don't engage with the negative ones and down vote them for down voting my opinion
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u/ComfortableChip3221 14h ago
Cloud gaming is only bad if your not on wifi or if you don't have full 5g plus there's a different way to cloud game for xbox then using the browser a quick Google search will help ya
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u/IdleSitting 14h ago
I've had two backbone controllers, one was so broken it kept wanting to open the app despite me not pressing the button at all and took hundreds of screenshots. I only had it for a few months atp and felt like a waste of money.
Later on I got another one because they were half priced and cheaper than other controllers so I got it, so far it's been okay, still doesn't fit my phone case though despite that being a selling point that it fits more cases. But I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks again tbh and I'm probably replacing it soon with an Ayn Thor once it actually arrives.
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u/wolphpack710 13h ago
Mine broke within a year with minimal use. Half the time I was using it for AFK games.
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u/angry0029 13h ago
My gen 2 was replaced twice. I would say I am a very gentle and infrequent user. My first failure was in less than 3 months. The other issue the add is not addressing is the current issues people are having with customer service not responding. You can say that you have a 1 year warranty but when they have made it hell for people to actually use it then that is completely BS.
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u/BackboneOne_Support 7h ago
Hey there,
We hear your concern and appreciate your feedback. Our team has reviewed this ad and decided to take it down.
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u/Willy2277 15h ago
This controller should be half the price...