Xbox’s new CEO pulled the plug on a baffling advert campaign which discouraged people from buying an Xbox, as part of a brand ‘reset’.
Microsoft’s strategy with Xbox has been confusing over the entirety of the Xbox Series X/S generation, but it reached a baffling peak with one particular marketing campaign.
At the end of 2024, Microsoft launched a series of ‘This Is An Xbox’ adverts, promoting the idea that you don’t need an Xbox Series X/S console to play any of its games. It was part of its multiplatform shift as it veered towards Xbox Game Pass, in light of low console sales.
This marketing campaign was reportedly led by former Xbox president Sarah Bond, who has since exited Microsoft entirely. According to reports, the campaign ‘offended many Xbox employees’, who were concerned about it diluting the brand.
In February, Microsoft brought in Asha Sharma as the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, following Phil Spencer’s retirement. After she took on the role, a blog post promoting the ‘This Is An Xbox’ campaign quickly disappeared.
It was unclear at the time if this was a coincidence or not, but now Microsoft has confirmed this advert campaign was shut down at the request of Sharma.
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Speaking to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson said: ‘Asha retired ‘This Is An Xbox’ because it didn’t feel like Xbox. She is personally leading a reset of how we show up as a brand.’
As for what Sharma thinks Xbox should ‘feel like’, that’s still largely unknown. She’s been receptive to the idea of bringing back exclusives and, in her introductory post, she vowed to bring about the ‘return of Xbox’ without pedalling ‘soulless AI slop’.
Alongside Sharma, the future of Xbox is also being steered by executive vice president Matt Booty, who joined Xbox way back in 2010.
Since the management shake-up, Microsoft has confirmed the codename for its next generation Xbox console is Project Helix, which will be able to run PC games. Alpha dev kits for the console are set to roll out in 2027, but a final release date is yet to be confirmed.
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