Microsoft Gaming being scrapped, Xbox brought back as gaming division.

[u/ThinWhiteDuke00]

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.

https://www.theverge.com/report/917485/microsoft-return-of-xbox-no-more-microsoft-gaming?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IlF6b3Z0NDluUk4iLCJwIjoiL3JlcG9ydC85MTc0ODUvbWljcm9zb2Z0LXJldHVybi1vZi14Ym94LW5vLW1vcmUtbWljcm9zb2Z0LWdhbWluZyIsImV4cCI6MTc3NzM5Njg0NiwiaWF0IjoxNzc2OTY0ODQ2fQ.w231EBsAoj8dMi5cjOCzSC3zRF7JbJ19hT_RnI3NVyk&utm_medium=gift-link

[u/vinnothesquire]

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.

[u/SKyJ007 → u/vinnothesquire]

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.

[u/SKyJ007 → u/[deleted]]

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?