- Microsoft’s ‘This Is an Xbox’ campaign reportedly didn’t go down well with staff
- The Verge reports that it “offended many Xbox employees internally”
- The initiative was tied to the broader “Xbox everywhere” strategy that was apparently being pushed at the time by former Xbox president Sarah Bond.
Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” campaign was reportedly hated by many employees internally.
That’s according to The Verge, which reports that the 2024 publicity stunt not only divided consumers at the time, but also “offended many Xbox employees internally.”
Although details have been leaked, it appears the initiative was linked to the broader “Xbox everywhere” strategy pushed at the time by former Xbox president Sarah Bond, who resigned from her position last week following the retirement of Microsoft games CEO Phil Spencer.
The “This Is an Xbox” campaign focused not only on the console, but other devices as well. He claimed that tablets, phones, the Samsung Smart TV, the Amazon Fire TV Stick, and more all count as “an Xbox.” This essentially pushed the idea that gamers wouldn’t need to buy an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or Xbox One to play their favorite games.
While this is true in some cases, it is suggested that Microsoft was undervaluing its core hardware, especially at a time when the company was pushing the idea of releasing Xbox games on other platforms.
The Verge reports that Bond’s connection to last year’s marketing efforts suggested that the former president had invested in expanding the Xbox brand so that it was no longer known as solely console-based.
It’s also notable that Bond personally announced the Xbox mobile games store in July 2024, as a way to continue the multi-device Xbox push, and that Xbox employees, past and present, paint a negative picture of Bond’s relationship with other staff members.
After Spencer’s retirement and Bond’s resignation were officially announced last week, it was confirmed that Asha Sharma, an executive at Microsoft’s CoreAI division, would take on the role of CEO of Xbox Gaming.
In a post shared at the time, Sharma made promises about “the return of Xbox” and creating games “designed by humans.”
However, despite the CEO’s comments, Xbox co-founder and original console designer Seamus Blackley believes that Microsoft will eventually wind down its gaming business as the company shifts its focus to AI.
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