Former Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra recently criticized Microsoft's “This is Xbox” campaign, calling it a misstep. Xbox mark. Microsoft's handling of the Xbox has been controversial in recent years, and many fans are skeptical about its future, a sentiment echoed by Ybarra's comments.
Microsoft first launched its controversial “This is Xbox” campaign in November 2024. The ad campaign compared the Xbox Series X/S consoles to tablets, smartphones, VR headsets and laptops, referring to them as “Xbox” for access to Game Pass. The campaign was not well-received at the time, as many fans argued that Microsoft was diluting the Xbox brand, especially with an increasingly cross-platform approach.
Mike Ybarra criticizes Microsoft's “This is Xbox” strategy.
Ybarra recently touched on a controversial marketing campaign when she responded to gamers who complained about the recently released ROG Xbox Ally using Windows instead of the Xbox OS. The executive explained that the decision made sense given the lack of Xbox exclusives. The former Blizzard president also claimed that “only a fool” would continue to make consoles even if all the games were from third parties. He also mentioned that “This is Xbox” was a “bad idea” at a “bad time”. According to Ybarra, if the games don't have parity between the console and other devices, it simply doesn't make sense to call these other platforms Xbox, which could confuse consumers.
Despite Ybarra's criticism, Microsoft appears to be focusing on its current Windows support strategy. A recent rumor even pointed out that Microsoft is working on an official Xbox emulation for Windows. If the rumors are correct, this move could bring classic Xbox games to the ROG Xbox Ally.
Cross-platform access and consoles are also likely to continue to be part of the Xbox ecosystem. Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed that a next-gen Xbox is currently in development in collaboration with AMD, responding to recent rumors that the idea may have been scrapped. So it remains to be seen how successful the next-gen Xbox console will be and whether Microsoft will continue to release only a few of its first-party games on PlayStation and similar platforms, or go all-out in its multi-platform strategy.
- Mark
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Microsoft
- Original release date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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499 dollars
- Operating system
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Proprietary (Windows based)
- Processor
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Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 3.8 GHz
- Resolution
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720p – 4K UHD
