Microsoft's new gaming boss axed 'This is an Xbox' campaign because 'it didn't feel like Xbox' — Xbox brand undergoes transformation to redefine its identity

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Many changes are coming to Xbox.

'This is an Xbox' marketing campaign
(Image credit: Microsoft Xbox)

In late 2024, Microsoft debuted a new marketing campaign called "This is an Xbox," showcasing various devices that were definitely not Xbox consoles. From TVs to laptops, and even VR headsets, everything was being branded this way as part of an ecosystem play to make Xbox synonymous with gaming anywhere. The ads have since been killed for good, and we now know that Asha Sharma was behind them.

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"This is an Xbox" but it's actually a TV

(Image credit: Xbox)

Once-great Xbox exclusives like Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and even the upcoming Fable are all coming to PlayStation, at a time when Sony is pivoting away from PC to bolster its console. The cost of focusing on hardware first is often borne by consumers, so it's a pick-your-poison situation in the current economic climate. Nintendo might be the only console maker left that's not apprehensive.

Speaking of the future, Sharma was appointed head of Microsoft Gaming earlier this year after long-time veterans Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond left the outfit. Sharma comes from an AI background, which raised even more concerns given Microsoft's insistence on pushing AI everywhere. But she's reportedly leading a massive reset for the Xbox brand internally that, so far, signals a return to consoles and hardware.

That's important because sales for Xbox, especially this generation, have been nothing special; fewer Xbox Series consoles have shipped than the Xbox One at the same point in their life cycles. It's too late to turn that around, especially with all the external factors, so Sharma's focus is on Project Helix, which is still a PC-console hybrid — but likely one that's proud of its hardware rather than merely an access point to the Xbox platform as a whole.

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Hassam Nasir
Hassam Nasir
Contributing Writer

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • timsSOFTWARE
    I still can't figure out what message they were trying to send with that marketing campaign. I guess they were trying to turn their brand into a joke? Maybe they thought it had become too stuffy for a gaming brand or something?
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    Admin said:
    The "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign was met with severe backlash from pretty much everyone outside Microsoft's top brass. Now, it seems like the brand is course-correcting with new Xbox chief Asha Sharma leading the charge for a rejuvenated Xbox, and personally killing the controversial campaign.

    Microsoft's new gaming boss axed 'This is an Xbox' campaign because 'it didn't feel like Xbox' — Xbox brand undergoes transformation to redefine it... : Read more
    https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrq0SGIREHe5tryjDmTigs6HbihgaVklOwe0ODVFwaO9rxYmaoMKallJnVtZ7OWDOLjFRZOMlRu52zL9NwLFVW3Cu3O1GaThis is an Egg Box :)
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    timsSOFTWARE said:
    I still can't figure out what message they were trying to send with that marketing campaign.
    You don't need to buy a very expensive console to give us money?!
    thisisaname said:
    This is an Egg Box :)
    Eggs Box
    (since it holds more than one egg)
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    TerryLaze said:
    You don't need to buy a very expensive console to give us money?!

    Eggs Box
    (since it holds more than one egg)
    If it was priced at £3.60 would it be a Eggs boc 360?
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    thisisaname said:
    If it was priced at £3.60 would it be a Eggs boc 360?
    Indubitably.
    (Even if $ (3.60) )
    Reply
  • LordVile
    timsSOFTWARE said:
    I still can't figure out what message they were trying to send with that marketing campaign. I guess they were trying to turn their brand into a joke? Maybe they thought it had become too stuffy for a gaming brand or something?
    Fairly simple. It’s a “play anywhere” approach whereby can use the Xbox platform elsewhere
    Reply
  • beyondlogic
    xbox hasnt know what xbox is since the xbox 360
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    The whole integration into windows and creepers trying to message kids through it, should have kept it separate on its own platform rather than watered it down. If every game you can play on the xbox is available on the pc, why bother? Games pass and gold also killed the market. Why buy games if they may give them to you free? You need exclusives to thrive in the console world. I still use my xbox, granted only as a 4k blu-ray player. I hope the emulation scene makes it easy to open it up to homebrew in the future, then will see new use. I don't get the Series X push. Does seem like Microsoft will eventually pull the plug and it will just be down to Sony and Nintendo (with Steam as the PC alternative). I don't see x-box handheld standing a chance against Steam Decks. Microsoft is incapable of delivering a polished product with features consumers want.
    Reply
  • LordVile
    cyrusfox said:
    The whole integration into windows and creepers trying to message kids through it, should have kept it separate on its own platform rather than watered it down. If every game you can play on the xbox is available on the pc, why bother? Games pass and gold also killed the market. Why buy games if they may give them to you free? You need exclusives to thrive in the console world. I still use my xbox, granted only as a 4k blu-ray player. I hope the emulation scene makes it easy to open it up to homebrew in the future, then will see new use. I don't get the Series X push. Does seem like Microsoft will eventually pull the plug and it will just be down to Sony and Nintendo (with Steam as the PC alternative). I don't see x-box handheld standing a chance against Steam Decks. Microsoft is incapable of delivering a polished product with features consumers want.
    All you’d need to succeed on Xbox as a handheld would to not run steamos which locks you out of several large titles and be somewhat price competitive.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    cyrusfox said:
    The whole integration into windows and creepers trying to message kids through it, should have kept it separate on its own platform rather than watered it down. If every game you can play on the xbox is available on the pc, why bother? Games pass and gold also killed the market. Why buy games if they may give them to you free? You need exclusives to thrive in the console world. I still use my xbox, granted only as a 4k blu-ray player. I hope the emulation scene makes it easy to open it up to homebrew in the future, then will see new use. I don't get the Series X push. Does seem like Microsoft will eventually pull the plug and it will just be down to Sony and Nintendo (with Steam as the PC alternative). I don't see x-box handheld standing a chance against Steam Decks. Microsoft is incapable of delivering a polished product with features consumers want.
    The thing you don't get is that consoles are loss leaders....nobody want's to succeed in consoles, they just have to if they want to sell games(and services) , where all the money is.
    Sony is going to sell the next PS for that much money that it might well fail, the switch 2 does a lot worse due to pricing.
    MS at least has a huge user base in windows/steamOS/whatever the next xbox thing is going to be. They own so many of the studios and gaming IP that they will make money from gaming no matter what.
    Reply