Microsoft is seemingly retiring the short-lived ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign. All references to the divisive advertisements have been pulled from the company’s website.
As first reported by Game Developer, the company is killing off any landing pages, on-screen advertisements or banners referencing This is an Xbox. It was originally discovered that while purusing the Xbox website, Microsoft replaced references to its ongoing campaign with a banner that reads “Play your way,” with a link to a page laying out all the devices on which Xbox services are available.
The link for the original announcement is no longer available. Rather than showing the blog post, I was met with a message reading, “Oops! That page cannot be found.” Any tag references for “This is an Xbox” render the same results, which suggests Microsoft has effectively pulled the plug on the campaign, first established in 2024.
You can still read the official blog post via Archive Today. In it, Microsoft said that the campaign was an invitation for “people to play with Xbox across multiple devices and screens.” The campaign largely revolved around highlighting a device like a laptop, smartphone, streaming stick, etc., with font reading, “This is an Xbox,” alluding to the idea that anything with the ability to tap into the ecosystem is an Xbox.
The campaign began very divisively. Many core players, who invested in Xbox consoles, felt as though the marketing eroded the notion that Xbox consoles (and PC) are the core pillars of what makes Xbox what it is. Adding to this, devices like a Galaxy smartphone, Amazon Fire TV stick, etc., don’t give access to a player’s full library, negating the idea that it’s a true replacement or contemporary for the hardware in your living room.
The removal of all references to This is an Xbox comes weeks after former head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer retired from his role, alongside former president of Xbox Sarah Bond stepped down. Bond was a major player in the creation of the marketing campaign. As Asha Sharma is now the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, it appears as though she is already making some changes.
This week, Microsoft also provided new details on Project Helix, the company’s new console and PC hybrid device. Although Microsoft isn’t abandoning its practises of supporting the Xbox Cloud Gaming across many devices, this is a reaffirmation of future native hardware from the company.
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