Xbox One is a "justifiable business expense"

Being journalists in the games industry, it’s fairly easy for us to argue that we should have consoles in the office. It doesn’t work but it’s easy to argue.

However, there are those in non-games related jobs who might want a next-generation console in the office for those cheeky lunchtime bouts of Halo – and Microsoft is here to help.

The firm’s Director of Consumer Camp Marque Lyons is positioning Xbox One as a business tool, claiming that features such as Skype and SkyDrive make the console an ideal alternative to other video conferencing and networking devices.

He might have a perfectly legitimate point, but try pitching that one to your boss.

In an open letter spotted by Neowin, via Eurogamer, Lyons wrote: "What is being positioned as an excellent entertainment device can be just as enticing for you and your small business.

"In fact, it’s entirely justifiable to make the Xbox One a business expense.

"The Xbox One, priced at $499, is an affordable option for small business owners, as there are many features built into the console that could help it rival even the most modest of video conferencing and networking platforms."

He then went through the advantages of having Kinect as a bundled microphone/webcam for video conferencing, SkyDrive’s cloud-based file sharing system, the SmartGlass as a different way to control presentations on the screen, Internet Explorer on large screen TVs and Snap Mode to compare sites with SkyDrive files.

Oh, and it plays games. But that wouldn’t be used at work, right?