Microsoft Has Seemingly Retired “This is an Xbox” Marketing Campaign

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Following Phil Spencer’s recent retirement as CEO of Microsoft Gaming and Sarah Bond’s departure as Xbox president, Microsoft appears to have quietly ended its “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign. Gaming news site GameDeveloper noticed that the Xbox Wire website no longer features any content with that campaign’s tag.

If you try to view stories with that tag, you’ll get an error message saying the page can’t be found. This suggests the company has removed all content related to the campaign, including the tag itself. The only way to see the Xbox Wire article about the campaign – originally published in November 2024 – appears to be through the internet archive website, Archive Today.

The “This is an Xbox” campaign aimed to show people that Xbox is more than just a console – it’s a gaming brand available on many devices. The campaign featured short videos highlighting computers and phones, emphasizing that these were also Xbox platforms thanks to services like Game Pass and cloud gaming. This innovative campaign was the idea of Bond.

Following her resignation from Microsoft last month, reports surfaced that Bond faced internal criticism regarding a recent campaign. Employee reactions were reportedly mixed, with many reportedly upset by the campaign’s focus on cloud gaming and mobile platforms. Some also found Bond challenging to work with. This led to concerns and repeated questioning of the campaign’s effectiveness within Microsoft, ultimately contributing to its failure.

I was really surprised to hear about Sarah Bond leaving Xbox, and I’ve been trying to figure out what happened. Some people think it had something to do with how the “This is an Xbox” campaign was received, but she said on LinkedIn that it just felt like the right time for her to move on to something new, both in her personal life and career. She talked about how she helped guide Xbox through a huge period of change after they bought Activision Blizzard in 2022, and it sounds like she feels good about what she accomplished there.

She announced that she’s moving on to new opportunities, both in her personal life and career. She’s excited about the rapid changes happening in technology and how they’ll impact the future of the industry.

Bond spoke highly of Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, mentioning he’d spent time with her during the change in Xbox leadership.

Recently, Sharma invited Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to an internal company meeting to talk about the future of gaming. Nadella shared his excitement about being there and emphasized that gaming is a central part of Microsoft’s identity. He also mentioned his discussions with Spencer, highlighting Microsoft’s commitment to remaining a leader in the gaming world. He stated that Microsoft aims to be the very best in gaming.

Microsoft has once again emphasized its dedication to gaming by announcing that it will begin distributing early development kits for Project Helix to game creators next year.

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2026-03-12 17:41