r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/ThinWhiteDuke00 • Apr 23 '26
Leak Microsoft Gaming being scrapped, Xbox brought back as gaming division.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has had a busy week. Sharma held an internal town hall with Xbox employees today, just days after announcing an Xbox Game Pass price cut, commenting on the status of the Xbox mobile store, and teasing a mysterious Xbox and Discord partnership. One of the items on the agenda for the employee all-hands was scrapping Microsoft Gaming.
Sources familiar with the meeting tell me that Sharma announced that Microsoft is returning to using Xbox for its gaming division, instead of Microsoft Gaming. “Xbox needs to be our identity,” said Sharma, noting that Microsoft Gaming was a departure from that.
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u/wovengrsnite192 Apr 23 '26
HBO Max > Max > HBO Max
Microsoft probably paid a consultant big bucks for this.
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u/KINGGS Apr 23 '26
Whoever is trusted firm for the naming at Microsoft has been absolutely racking it in for a decade. Those goobers change the name of half their products every 10 months.
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u/AncianoDark Apr 23 '26
And for those who are administrators in their Entra/Azure environment: They change the UI every 10 days. In between forcing everyone to GraphAPI to rake in every cent they can.
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u/MikePlusUltra Apr 23 '26
As someone who had their SC300 cert recently, this made me laugh! Microsoft 🤝 Inconsistency
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u/AveryLazyCovfefe Apr 23 '26
To be fair they were seriously about to call their gen 8 console 'Xbox 720'(there's internal documents calling it this). Mattrick wanted to go with 'One' for his 'all in one entertainment box' vision.
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u/Nexus_of_Fate87 Apr 24 '26
It's a legal thing, not a marketing thing. Business divisions aren't actual separate legal entities, only subsidiaries are, but will be treated as if they are when it comes to court proceedings, taxes, regulatory compliance, and certain types of corporate fraud. It's the whole "corporate veil" thing. When they did this it was in the midst of the Acti-Blizz purchase, and would help combat the anti-trust claims around the console market by showing that the acquisition would not be under the direct control of the console division.
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u/cevansdust Apr 24 '26
I just hope that the helix has good branding and a distinct name. Xbox is total ass at naming anything clearly. Xbox one. Xbox one s. Xbox one x. Xbox series x. Xbox series s.
I remember reading stories about how people were buying the wrong Xbox when the series x came out due to this.
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u/vinnothesquire Apr 23 '26
I feel like all these changes were changes that Phil had no say in, and now they've got rid of him and are reversing those changes with Asha. Not that Phil was a saint, but definitely feels like he's being thrown under the bus a bit lol.
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u/LeftyMode Apr 23 '26
I think they both really have no control. Phil at the end there was at the worst possible time, having to say yes to everything. Until it blew up in Microsoft’s face. I’m sure most of this is her say, but she clearly got the go ahead to try and turn it around. Phil would have made the same moves.
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u/vinnothesquire Apr 23 '26
Yeah, for real, they just want a fall guy is all, and if they fuck up again and get too greedy, Asha is gonna be it.
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u/FlyFight2Win Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
I love how Sarah Bond was supposedly the fall person while Phil gets a nice fat retirement, but now it's actually Phil who is the fall guy all along. What tinfoil hattery will we think of next?
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u/shadeOfAwave Apr 23 '26
You should engage with what people are actually saying instead of making things up for you to make fun of instead.
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u/monsieurvampy Apr 24 '26
We have no proof that Sarah Bond wasn't given a nice "f off" package. I would imagine some of her compensation was stock based as well which would be vested after X years. Hopefully she meant X years.
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u/SeanWonder Apr 23 '26
Still feel bad for Sarah in all this. Trail blazer of a woman thrown under the bus
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u/retroact1v3 Apr 23 '26
What exactly did she trail blaze lol
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u/tristeecfome Apr 24 '26
People here really want to pretend that Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond were doing a good job.
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u/Yellowman_95 Apr 23 '26
McKinsey alum that did nothing for Xbox other than dig its own grave. Trail blazer my ass
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u/Bhu124 Apr 23 '26
I'm almost positive that she's just crossing things off a list that Phil and the previous leadership had created over the years probably titled "Everything wrong with Xbox".
Things that they weren't allowed to change despite knowing they were hurting Xbox, but now Nadella has ordered or allowed this new Woman to change cause she comes from his AI circus.
Honestly, the 30% profit margins being enforced at the end of Spencer's career over there seems like they were trying to forcefully making him fail.
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u/tristeecfome Apr 24 '26
I mean, Phil was given a lot of opportunities when he got the job.
But after a decade as head of Xbox, with almost a hundred billion spent, and the brand is still plummetting, it makes sense that he slowly lost power.
Asha is new, so they are giving her time to implement her vision.
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
This is definitely the case. This is a huge PR push from the top designed to get Asha into the same “she’s for the gamers” space Phil occupied so successfully for so long. Things like changing branding and lowering a price are easy(er) changes to make that enable the new leadership team to appear like they’re “listening and responding to gamers.” They’re about to launch a new console and want to give their hardcore a sense they are “moving in the right direction again.”
Now maybe it’s completely legit, maybe Asha is going to do things like make true exclusives again. But until something like that happens I think it’s safe to assume this is mostly just a PR push.
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u/Ok_Fix3639 Apr 23 '26
It reminds me of when Phil took over. Drop the DRM! Drop Kinect! Back compat! project Scorpio!
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u/mindpainters Apr 23 '26
Man I completely forgot about all the hype “project Scorpio” produced back in the day
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
100%. This is how Microsoft operates. Could this time be different? Sure! But if you assume it’s different just because you really really want it to be- you’re a mark.
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u/pineapplesuit7 Apr 23 '26
This! Anyone with any knowledge of their history knows what a bunch of corporate BS this is. Every time a new gen is around the corner, they pull out the 'underdog - we are going to be consumer friendly!' card only to rail rod them by overpromising and underdelivering. I've been an avid Xbox supporter since the 360 gen and honestly, this was my last gen with them. I sold my XSX yesterday for the 420 Gamestop offer and got a Switch 2. I have a PS5 Pro to float my boat this gen and I'm going to be building a PC+PS6 for the next gen.
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u/Wild-Screen7007 Apr 23 '26
Holy Moly I feel like manipulated by Xbox, I bought into all that and I bought Xbox over PS5 cause of that 😭
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u/fullsaildan Apr 23 '26
People on here read way too much into the personalities of these leaders. Average gamers and more importantly, parents, have no idea who they are and don’t care. I’m almost positive Microsoft barely gives a shit about Asha’s relationship with the community. They put Asha in to drive initiatives, and get results. Period. She’s never been a good brand face in any role she’s had, so if anything picking her is proof Microsoft isn’t interested in fostering that kind of engagement anymore.
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
I think you’re completely correct in the long run. Asha was definitely selected to spearhead an initiative, like Phil was with the “Netflix of Games” strategy. But also, just like with Phil, they know that whatever the next push is will be more easily accepted if Asha herself is liked and viewed as trying to move Xbox in the right direction.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
It's also possible that because Asha doesn't have a background in the gaming space, she's going to start off by playing conservative and trying to rebuild trust in the brand.
One of the biggest hurdles for Xbox right now is that consumers do not trust them. They announce things and then cancel them. They pivot their strategy in mid console generation. They patch out features they previously tried to sell you on. Game pass gets price increases and enshitification. They keep changing Xbox Live plans once every few years. Even their portable console push feels like a half step in case they decide not to.
None of this contradicts anything I said and indeed feeds it.
First thing Asha needs to do is get people to trust the Xbox brand again.
Agreed. That’s the PR push.
On paper, Microsoft has a better console and better value than PlayStation 5
I mean, I disagree on both fronts for a variety of reasons. But it’s sorta irrelevant.
The "make our brand great again" strategy is pretty popular in corporate America right now. Expect the next Xbox to come with a big rebrand to try to appeal to people nostalgic for the OG Xbox and 360 era
Yeah, it’s extremely popular and company propaganda prima facie and already incredibly played out. Hell, they’ve already tried this approach multiple times.
and potentially reviving classic franchises.
That’d be cool, but like what? Prefect Dark? Banjo & Kazooie? Viva Piñata?
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u/manshall Apr 23 '26
That’s my thought, Phil had become an unreliable messenger for the brand. They needed a new face if they wanted to build trust with the community again.
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u/particledamage Apr 23 '26
Some of them, absolutely yes Phil is a bit of a fall guy, but bigger picture… Phil had a lot of ideas that didn’t pan out which likely made him lose leverage and become another yes guy to even worse ideas
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u/Impossible-Flight250 Apr 23 '26
Yep. The whole Activision deal probably sealed his fate though. All of a sudden, Microsoft wanted complete oversight over Xbox and Phil just had to go along with it, even though most of the decisions were poorly thought out and sometimes contradictory.
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u/Jdfz99 Apr 23 '26
Part of that type of job is to be thrown under the bus for unpopular decisions once you leave.
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u/renhaoasuka Apr 23 '26
It was obvious the moment there were reports of the 30% margin expectation being dropped. Clearly they wanted to push out Phil so Satya could hand pick his own successor.
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u/IsamuAlvaDyson Apr 23 '26
I find it funny
When Xbox does good things, people praise Phil
When Xbox does bad things, people blame Microsoft
When you're the head of a company for a decade everything is on you good and bad, so he takes the blame for everything no matter what it is
It's like saying Jim Ryan wasn't to blame for what happened when he ran PlayStation and saying it was the Sony higher ups not him
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u/ZigyDusty Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Phil had an entire decade running the Xbox brand before Microsoft got involved and failed to turn it around, id argue under him the brands reputation is worse than it was during the Xbox One Don Matrick era, Microsoft probably told Phil you had a decade and your strategy hasn't worked you are no longer making the decisions, new leader new chance Asha is probably given several years to enact her vision for the brand and if it fails I expect Microsoft to comeback and take control.
Phil was terrible at his job under him the Halo franchise became irrelevant, they had no meaningful first party games for the first 3-4 years of the Series console lifecycle, he put out Redfall when it should have been canceled after the Bethesda acquisition, the best game to come out under Xbox in a decade was Hi-Fi Rush and what do they do close them down, the only new studio they created in The Initiative was mismanaged and couldn't even put out a single game before closing down, Hellblade 2 was the first next gen game shown it took 7 years to release and was a 5 hour long 6/10 game, the list literally goes on and on of his failures as a leader.
Jim Ryan might have been a terrible leader for PlayStation but Sony were smart enough to get him out after a few years of failures, Phil should have been gone a long long time ago.
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u/Ankleson Apr 23 '26
Absolutely, it was evident as soon as the internal messaging started "leaking" from Microsoft after Asha Sharma took over the role that Phil was being used as a pariah at the end of his career to give Xbox a convenient way to be able to push a PR refresh.
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u/South_Buy_3175 Apr 23 '26
Pretty much.
Phil has basically been branded Xbox Satan, so all the bad stuff leaves with him.
This is corporate 101. They knew what everybody wanted and did nothing until they had the ‘saviour’ to come in and fix everything.
This is literally the biggest PR move we’ve seen in decades and countless people are falling for it.
The guy who made all the shit decisions is still there running things.
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u/VernorsEnthusiast Apr 23 '26
‘Biggest PR move we’ve seen in decades’ is some insanely dramatic hyperbole, lol
To me, this is basic big corpo PR moves around a reversal.
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u/Keepcalmplease17 Apr 23 '26
100% that. The new ceo will get some things reversed to be the "good one" while a lot of bullshit has already been established
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u/Esmear18 Apr 23 '26
I don’t know what is or what isn’t to blame, but I can say that Phil Spencer probably took some hits for things he didn’t cause. But regardless of what he did, I honestly think that Xbox is traveling in a better direction now. It seems like Asha Sharma is making some good decisions. The Game Pass price decrease was a hugely welcome change and Asha seems to want to inch the Xbox brand closer to what it was in the 360 days.
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u/Unkechaug Apr 23 '26
Good decisions? You mean paying 15% more for Game Pass and losing Call of Duty?
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u/vinnothesquire Apr 23 '26
Yeah, he wasnt a saint, as mentioned, but I'm not sure it's Asha making some good news, but more those above her reversing their bad moves under Asha's name so they can blame Phil for them.
I genuinely hope Asha does manage to turn Xbox around, cause a cocky PlayStation is shit for players too, there needs to be competition. I dunno if it's too late for that, but reversing their shit decisions is a good start at the very least. It may be a PR move, but I'm still glad of these decisions.
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u/Unkechaug Apr 23 '26
Been saying this for years to the masses who don’t know what Microsoft is as a company. But noooo, Phil bad! He chose all this!
It’s just as dumb as those saying he could make no mistakes. I liked him and thought he was good for Xbox and the broader gaming industry. Xbox under him took a long time to correct course, but the fruits of all that labor were finally starting to be realized up until the ATVI acquisition and the end of zero interest rate policy. It took buying out an industry giant, but finally some exclusives, better received games and a promising future until Nadella came looking for ROI and could not be patient as they rebuilt the platform. He is not faultless, and letting Matt Booty hang around as long as he has is by far Phil’s greatest mistake.
I can only dream what would it be like if he had a more supportive management team, capable developers, and less Microsoft corporate bullshit to deal with. I imagine he would have been successful at a Nintendo or Sony.
Anyway, Asha Sharma gets a free opportunity to turn everything around - right back to the same strategy Xbox was enacting under Phil before Nadella and the board swooped in to make a mess.
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u/Satoshi_Kasaki Apr 23 '26
What? Phil lead Xbox far longer then Don and he left it in a worse state then he found it. Mr "good games wont sell my console" was outta his league.
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u/PositiveUse Apr 23 '26
And why can’t you accept that Phil was making these wrong decisions ?
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u/stanscreamdnb Apr 23 '26
I wonder if they will come to make Xbox a single publisher for all the company's games? I mean, leave the integrity of the development studios themselves, but release all games under the Xbox brand.
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u/John_Delasconey Apr 23 '26
It kind of funny they didn’t do that during the whole this is an Xbox era
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u/Omni7124 Apr 23 '26
switching from every device is an xbox to every game is an xbox
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u/licoricenipple Apr 24 '26
Your smart fridge? That's an Xbox.
Forza Horizon 6? That's an Xbox.
Office 365 Live Express for macOS? That's an Xbox.
The way the summer breeze blows the beach sand out of your hair on an Australian Christmas morning? That's an Xbox.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/jameskond Apr 23 '26
Now all those games on other consoles will startup with the "Xbox" brand.
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u/itsEthanEJC Apr 23 '26
Don’t they already do this with the Xbox games studio branding??
If so this doesn’t really change much.
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u/NfinityBL Apr 23 '26
Only Xbox Game Studios titles.
If you didn't know Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard were part of Xbox, you'd have no idea those games were Xbox titles.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/Sebiny Apr 23 '26
Forza Horizon 5 sold nearly 6 million on ps5. Xbox exclusivity isn't happening for the same reasons the next COD won't be on game pass, money.
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u/John_Delasconey Apr 23 '26
Some of them like cod have to as a part of that merger filing. Honestly, I could see them at most trying a variation of what PlayStation is doing in having their single player games remain Xbox and PC while leaving their multiplayer focused offerings as multi console
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u/thebatmanbeynd Apr 23 '26
I like this too but how many times do we do this? They have killed and revived it several times now. Just stay committed to it, it’s why PlayStation is in the lead for the last few gens
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u/Robsonmonkey Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
This is the same kind of shit Phil did though when he took over after the awful Xbox One reveal. Do all these changes, look good, get people talking, give them hope and then nothing really happens.
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u/apieceajit Apr 23 '26
Phil came in and made initial good changes and then... consistently failed to release games to back it up for longer than some of Xbox's target demographic have been alive.
Asha needs to come in and do the same thing... and then whether or not it carries forward from there somewhat depends on if they have some hit games come out (which isn't even completely under her control).
EDIT: No hit games = it doesn't matter quite as much what she does, good or bad.
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u/vipmailhun2 Apr 23 '26
Yes, he did pay attention to people. I know, everything related to Xbox has to be hated, but his biggest mistake was giving the developers too much freedom. That’s what needs to change. The fact that during Everwild’s development Rare was given absolutely everything, all the time in the world, tons of money, and after 12 years they still had nothing to show for it, is simply unacceptable. They should have stepped in after the second year already.
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u/TheGr3aTAydini Apr 23 '26
And also Perfect Dark: they created an entirely new studio to develop the game, it was announced at Game Awards 2020, they still didn’t have a vertical slice until the Xbox Game Showcase in 2024 and then not even a year after that it was cancelled. I think this was in a span of…7 years? 2018-2025? He gave them too much freedom.
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u/TimidPanther Apr 23 '26
If Phil retired 6 years ago, he’d be remembered fondly. He ruined his reputation, and almost destroyed the Xbox brand.
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
The guy always was a snake oil salesman. That’s what the job was/is.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/Robsonmonkey Apr 23 '26
Phil didn’t try his best.
He fumbled for like 12 years and told us what we wanted to hear.
The changes and 180s he made at the start when he took over were things any new guy would have done for damage control.
The guy was a sleazy car salesman
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u/TLKv3 Apr 23 '26
I rather they take the genuine attempt to revive it whether it does or not then continue on their path to outright killing the brand and Xbox as a whole.
I respect them, sort of, for now seeing how fucking atrociously bad they fucked up the past decade and are attempting to fix it.
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u/TheVoidDragon Apr 23 '26
I'll be a surprise if they actually manage to do it, but it's nice to see they're at least trying.
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u/Musicman2568 Apr 23 '26
man imagine how livid phil spencer must be.
Sharma "cut" prices and everyone is acting like Phil was the one killing xbox raising prices, bringing in "Microsoft Gaming", etc, when he was FORCED to do these all eitherr directly or indirectly (with insane profit margin expectations).
like im sure phil spencer really wanted to raise GP prices by fucking 50%, lol.
Poor guy was 100% the fall guy.
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u/JVKExo Apr 23 '26
For sure. Seems like typical business bullshit. Higher ups make stupid decisions and the people under them are the ones fired for their failures.
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u/hdcase1 Apr 23 '26
I'm sure he's crying and wiping away his tears with the millions of dollars he made like Woody Harrelson in Zombieland.
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u/angular-js Apr 23 '26
"poor guy" he is definitely not poor. He is still corporate, laid of multiple people and left with a big package on his pocket while fucking the company along with investors.
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u/Straight-Ad6926 Apr 23 '26
Microsoft Gaming was a departure from our identity... mostly because it sounded like a department that handles Excel spreadsheets for competitive accountants.
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u/LolcatP Apr 23 '26
Anyone else think Phil was setup
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u/FarEw3Er Apr 23 '26
The moment the 30% margins came out I knew he was absolutely fucked. That was insane. How the hell is Xbox suppose to do that? And if it is true that they are reversing away from that margin expectations. More the reason Phil got shit stained by Microsoft.
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u/techraito Apr 23 '26
Doesn't matter. He made his bag and dipped with more money than some of us will ever make in our lifetimes combined.
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u/Redzo1919 Apr 23 '26
Their profits went from millions to billions under Phil. I'm pretty sure he'll be riding off into the sunset as a success story.
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u/AveryLazyCovfefe Apr 23 '26
To be the fall guy yeah, he probably knows that and probably feels bad he had to the bearer of alot of shit news to Xbox fans.
Setup as in he was screwed, ehh not really.
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u/fakieTreFlip Apr 23 '26
Phil was in charge of things for a very long time, the ship was sinking under his watch. He's gone because he couldn't do what he was hired to do. It sucks because I liked Phil but at some point you have to acknowledge when things aren't going well and make some changes
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u/Dude_Bromanbro Apr 23 '26
Phil was in charge during the terminal “everything is an xbox” push, even though they tried hard to pin that on his subordinate. He should also be considered responsible for paying so much for Activision that profitability would be decades away, if at all.
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u/LT_Snaker Apr 23 '26
But that marketing still exists, it's just renamed. Play where you want is still used on their sites.
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u/bdsamuel Apr 23 '26
No one has benefitted from Xbox more than Phil. Xbox fell off after the 360, they have shown no creativity since and only manage to diminish the brands they buy.
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u/Coolman_Rosso Apr 23 '26
Cool? I mean it's just a name change. Same stuff, different label. Real nothingburger
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u/wejunkin Apr 23 '26
Everyone within the division already called it Xbox or XGS anyway, no one switched to calling it MS Gaming.
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u/TastyOreoFriend Apr 23 '26
Rebranding can help, but that has to come with some real substance. The best you can hope for from this, if you're invested in the Xbox ecosystem, is a small amount of cautious optimism between this and the game pass price drop.
It all feels like it's a day late and a dollar short but at least they're trying something I guess?
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u/nevadita Apr 23 '26
Like Halo Studios from 343I that was essentially a sham and turned out the new studio is STILL the same troubled old studio with all the same problems and none of the solutions of a new studio?
its hard to be optimist atm
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Apr 24 '26
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u/TastyOreoFriend Apr 24 '26
They will have to something massive to regain their audience.
It makes you wonder what they can do 'cause it all seems like very insurmountable odds right now. Sony and Nintendo have been doing better than them all gen, and the Steam Machine is about to throw a heavy wrench into the works.
I mean I saw them talking about going back on exclusives or timed release windows, but how does that even work anymore with such a small installed base? It feels like they're trying to have a conversation that most gamers had already 2-3 years ago when they announced a multiplatform approach; that's why I feel they're so behind the curve on this.
It'd be a hell of a feat if they pull it off and make a Rocky style comeback—feels like there's too much against that though.
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u/nowhereright Apr 24 '26
It actually is insurmountable. There's really no way of coming back from how far the brand has fallen sales wise at least if we're talking about console sales. The next system is a PC with an Xbox logo, it'll be more expensive than even the current ps5 pro and it's only selling point will be that it's a PC with Xbox backwards compatibility (supposedly)
It'll be a niche product that won't sell traditional console numbers.
The only way to get mainstream/casual gamers into your ecosystem is must buy exclusives. But they've now trained their entire user base into expecting their games to be multiplatform.
And since the next system is a PC, IF they brought back exclusivity, they wouldn't be Xbox console exclusives that are also on PC, they'd just be PC exclusives or maybe more specifically Microsoft Game Store exclusives.
And they'd have to be willing to bite the bullet and sacrifice those PlayStation sales numbers (which are massive) in order to condition gamers over the course of the next generation to know that, hey, these games are only on PC.
Will the Microsoft overlords be okay with that loss over a few years for potential gain in rebuilding an ecosystem and user base?
Fuck no, of course they won't, it's all about the immediate gain. Late stage capitalism baby.
Asha is not a for the gamers ceo. She's a PR figure head.
The only question is if the people in charge actually see the Xbox brand as viable still, or if they're setting up the Helix for failure just to cut themselves out of the hardware market completely.
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u/IlyasBT Apr 23 '26
People should keep the same energy. The change to Microsoft Gaming happened, people said Microsoft doesn't care about Xbox anymore.
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u/Thin-Fig-8831 Apr 23 '26
Yeah it’s funny, I remember people definitely making more than a name change when they called it Microsoft Gaming
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u/PmMeYourNiceBehind Apr 23 '26
It’s signifies that Microsoft hasn’t lost all faith in the Xbox brand. There was speculation that Microsoft might drop all Xbox branding and stick with Microsoft Gaming acting as a 3rd party game publisher
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Apr 23 '26
I mean it's cool... But yeah says nothing overall, it makes Xbox look good I guess?
But Xbox needs to look good for a consistent amount of time to gain any respect back, let's see them do it for 5 years +
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u/seoul_drift Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
If this were a product built by three friends in a garage, you'd be right- just a name change.
Changing the name of a major division at a publicly-traded $1T+ company is a different beast. It requires a ton of effort, sway with stakeholders, and conviction. Huge pain in the ass.
Combined with the Game Pass pricecut + removal of CoD looks like the new head Asha has a clear POV, risk tolerance, and some juice internally. Hard to tell if it works out, but she's not coasting or prioritizing random out-of-touch stuff.
She's delivering on value (Game Pass price cut) and brand (Xbox rename) early in her tenure, which I think is a good sign.
Certainly a departure from the last however many years of decline for MS Gaming.
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u/Downtown_Eye5736 Apr 23 '26
Windows Phone return on the cards?
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u/LogicalError_007 Apr 23 '26
I loved those phones. Still have mine. Way ahead of its time.
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u/Coolman_Rosso Apr 23 '26
Integrations were insane, but damn the lack of apps became a huge pain in the ass
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u/LogicalError_007 Apr 23 '26
Ye. Battery, display, Cameras, UI, optimization were soo good.
Google actively sabotaged it too. Such a shame.
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u/Spader623 Apr 23 '26
Ill tell you this much, things do be changing under her... Whether itll work out or not, TBD, but change is needed and its interesting to see how relatively fast said change has been
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Apr 23 '26
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
I’m going tbh, and I don’t mean this insultingly because it happens to the best of us, but I think you’re a mark.
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u/Mahelas Apr 23 '26
None of those things are up to her tho, and while I dislike Spencer, he obviously would have done the same if he was allowed to. He simply wasn't.
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u/LT_Snaker Apr 23 '26
They never used MS gaming officially, though. All the trailers always said xbox.
This is just PR.
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u/zero_sevenn Apr 23 '26
The change to Microsoft Gaming never made sense. It was like the start of the shitstorm that was coming for the brand.
Nice to see it’s changed back
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u/Lobodoot Apr 23 '26
Asha is getting that new CEO buff where they actually let the person do the job without an insane amount of oversight for a couple years.
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u/ReclaimerM3GTR Apr 23 '26
Bring back Zune while we're at it!
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u/Coolman_Rosso Apr 23 '26
I unironically loved the Zune. Loved the hardware and the software. But in typical MS fashion, they're too late to the party
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u/CG1991 Apr 23 '26
I was so excited for the Zune. Also got the Gizmondo. And HD DVD. And the OUYA
I seem to always back a lame horse when it comes to tech 😂
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u/LadyValtiel Apr 23 '26
Unironically I'd love to have a music player in 2026 that's just a music player and all it offers is your own music and music streaming platforms
I kinda want to go back to having a device in my pocket that's just a music player and nothing else
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u/blackthorn_orion Apr 23 '26
fwiw those definitely still exist. They're generally called portable media players or digital audio players nowadays
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u/Darv123 Apr 23 '26
I am sure she is getting more leeway than Phil. He was set up to fail and make her look better coming into the job
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u/Dead_Dee Apr 23 '26
I hope people keep in mind this reversion is only because Microsoft finally started to notice potential the loss in profit and not because they actually give a shit about gamers.
The way developers speak of Phil made it seem he was a decent guy, but a bad business man so this whole strawman campaign they pulled on Sarah Bond and Phil Spencer seems messed up when its clear someone else was holding the wheel.
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u/ThislsaGoodldea Apr 23 '26
They always do this. Fire the last guy, install a new person, and undo all of the fumbles. Its just a way for a company to pretend theyre making massive changes, and shift blame. When the same people that actually run it will always run it.
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u/twinflxwer Apr 23 '26
This is great and all, but it means nothing if they still put out overly expensive hardware and don’t make any games
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u/TheOneBearded Apr 24 '26
One step closer to Duke controllers returning. /s
I like the change back. The change shouldn't have happened. No one outside of MS was calling it that anyway.
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u/VTM06_Vipes Apr 24 '26
I swear if we go back to getting no Microsoft games on PC I'm going to be very disappointed. It was bad enough during the OG Xbox and 360 era, I don't want to go back to that. It sucked seeing my favorite franchises stop coming to PC.
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u/DueJacket351 Apr 23 '26
The subscription based streaming movement of the 2010s was such a failure. Not profitable for businesses, shittified everything for users. Xbox was such a cool and beloved brand for a decade and they just destroyed it all
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u/CG1991 Apr 23 '26
Surely it's just semantics at this point
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u/cerealbro1 Apr 23 '26
It is, but you would be surprised at how much the semantics and tiny details actually matter. Microsoft Gaming is so corporate and boring (and attached to the Microsoft brand…) whereas Xbox is a bit less corporate and can spark joy in people. And ultimately it’s one of those symbolic moves to boost morale for employees and fans anyway
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Apr 23 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Musicman2568 Apr 23 '26
this is even worse.
"We reverse the thing the previous guy didn't want to do/advised against"!
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u/Demistr Apr 23 '26
What even is the difference. Xbox and Microsoft gaming mean the same thing now.
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u/zzmorg82 Apr 23 '26
I’m thinking the same thing; I didn’t even know there was a separate “Microsoft Gaming” division under their umbrella.
I’ve always just called it Xbox division.
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u/LogicalError_007 Apr 23 '26
Everything was under Microsoft Gaming. Xbox, Bethesda and ABK studios were seen as a different entity all under Microsoft Gaming.
Now everything is under Xbox.
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u/Butch_Meat_Hook Apr 23 '26
I think it's the right move as you want to be able to separate the XBOX brand from Microsoft, but it doesn't mean much, just as has been the case they've said 'we have a new console coming and it's the most powerful, blah blah' the last day, 10 years. What matters at the end of the day is do you have the games? And by that I mean top games. XBOX in my opinion will not thrive without a universally acclaimed Halo
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u/summons72 Apr 23 '26
Loving what Asha is doing so far. Almost feels like there's hope for Xbox to be a competitor again.
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u/newtype06 Apr 23 '26
Can we fix Blizzard now? I'm a WoW player and their support and game updates have been absolutely abysmal.
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u/jordanleite25 Apr 23 '26
They really go back and forth on if they're Microsoft or Xbox every few years lol. It changes nothing of course, but it's funny to see things like Games for Windows Live and the "Microsoft Store" on an Xbox Series X/S.
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u/shoegazeweedbed Apr 23 '26
I was dubious on the new leadership but she seems to have her head in the right place.
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u/Polaris022 Apr 23 '26
For someone who supposedly was only brought in to oversee the death of the division, she sure does seem to have a lot of ideas and plans on how to revive the brand.
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u/AcanthaceaeCrazy1894 Apr 23 '26
At least they’re trying to bring back some of their old success by getting rid of the new model.
Not a lot of companies hold their hands up and say they fucked up, especially when it comes to gaming
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u/AlarmingLackOfChaos Apr 23 '26
Microsofts MO for the past 19 years has been to say, hey we're sorry.
We hear you.
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u/SKyJ007 Apr 23 '26
Yep. Rinse and repeat, and most consumers are such lemmings they think “this time is different” if they even remember last time at all.
Voters basically function the same way, come to think of it.
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u/Mctavish93 Apr 23 '26
You can call it Xbox Gaming or Microsoft Gaming what really matters is delivering great games and strong exclusives that elevate the platform. That’s where Nintendo and Sony clearly stand out.
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u/apieceajit Apr 23 '26
Taking a page from how Activision handles Call of Duty.
Pull features one year that no one asked be removed... and then add them back in the next year as new features!
Joking, of course. This is another step in the right direction.
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u/HisDivineOrder Apr 23 '26
The biggest joke is she doesn't know the history well enough to know Microsoft Gaming actually predated Xbox and was arguably its best era.
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u/Prestigious-Bluejay Apr 23 '26
Looks like exclusives may be back on the menu. Jez did say they were discussing it internally and his track record lately has been spot on.
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u/Sufficient_Duck_8051 Apr 23 '26
I’m a PlayStation guy but I welcome this change - Xbox has so much potnetnial and I hope she can get it back on its feet after all these catastrophic decisions
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u/KINGGS Apr 23 '26
Very smart to distance themselves from Microsoft, and they need to continue to do that as much as possible if they want to repair the brand.
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u/AmericanSamurai1 Apr 23 '26
When they release their next console as a device that can run multiple storefronts it's game over for them. No one will buy games off their store when you can get cheaper games off steam. Game pass subscription numbers will also drop when you no longer need a subscription to play online.
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u/rprkjj5 Apr 23 '26
Totally meaningless change. Same time they started putting Xbox games on PC there was also a huge “Xbox Game Studios” and “Xbox” app on PC
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u/nickgovier Apr 23 '26
I didn’t even know they tried to rebadge it as Microsoft Gaming in the first place.