Asha Sharma has debuted a new boot up animation for Xbox consoles, in her continuing efforts to get people excited for the brand again.
Since Asha Sharma took over as head of Xbox in February, she has quickly established herself as the new face of the brand and not just by being active on social media.
In just a few months, she’s announced the Project Helix console (or t least its codename), killed the unpopular ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, cut the price of Game Pass, talked about re-evaluating Xbox’s stance on exclusives, and cancelled plans to integrate Copilot into Xbox.
So she’s already done a lot to help usher in a new era for Xbox, ahead of the new console’s launch. And her newest reavel is the new boot up animation and sound for Xbox consoles.
Sharma shared the animation via X, shortly ahead of it being officially updated on consoles. It’s nothing flashy and the sound has only barely changed, but it does now feature the revamped Xbox logo introduced a couple of weeks ago.
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No doubt this will also be used for Project Helix, which is assumed to be launching in 2027. It was previously suggested that the new console could be delayed, due to the ongoing memory shortage, but with Sharma and the Xbox team rapidly pushing this whole brand revamp, it seems they want Project Helix out sooner rather than later.
There’s certainly ever reason to push new hardware, and start moving on from the Xbox Series X, as console sales have only worsened over time. With even prominent releases like Forza Horizon 6 and the Halo: Combat Evolved remake coming to PlayStation 5 this year, people have little reason to pick up a Xbox Series X or S.
Regarding the new boot up animation, despite how minor an update it is, Xbox fans have had a lot to say about it. On the Xbox subreddit, the overall sentiment seems to be positive, with some viewing this as further proof of Microsoft’s attempt at re-righting the brand.
‘It feels like they are trying to reboot Xbox as a brand. Even to the point of changing the startup of an already existing console. Kinda cool,’ says Strict_Job6334.
Pajamashark enthusiastically declares, ‘The Sharmageddon continues!!,’ with others also feeling positive about how she’s running things so far. ‘Also seen her called the Xboss. She’s doing some good (albeit minor) things so far,’ adds -Accident-Prone-.
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Some remain a bit more hesitant, although they acknowledge that things are off to a good start. ‘She’s going for all the easy stuff and I don’t blame her one bit. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Gotta start somewhere!’ says Greatsnes.
‘There’s only so much that can realistically change in a short amount of time but she is making changes. And all of those changes are fitting on the same theme and messaging of her stated goal when she took the job. That’s pretty damn good,’ says Thor_2099.
All that said, no amount of positive attitudes and fan-pleasing statements will make any real difference to sales. It remains unclear what the brand’s focus is going forward and there’s still every chance Microsoft will double down on AI, considering Sharma’s team now consists of many people she worked with at the company’s CoreAI division.
A return to traditional exclusives isn’t impossible (and a recent survey has proved exclusives do matter), but it’d be hard for Microsoft to pivot back to that when key franchises like Halo and Gears Of War now have a home on PlayStation.
There is some hope among fans that Microsoft will improve upon its backwards compatibility features for Project Helix. Xbox’s vice president of next generation, Jason Ronald, recently shared a link to an unofficial fansite where people can vote on which original Xbox and Xbox 360 games they want to see be supported through backwards compatibility.
The fact that Ronald’s aware of it, and happy to boost its profile, could suggest Xbox is paying attention to the results. If you’re curious, the top three most demanded games are Transformers: War For Cybertron, its sequel Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron, and The Simpsons: Hit & Run. So we’re all for that.
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