By Gavin Boyle
Microsoft is refocusing its gaming devision on Xbox.
“Xbox needs to be our identity…” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over the role from longtime CEO Phil Spencer in February, said in a company memo. “Over the last five years, Xbox and the industry have been through an unimaginable amount of change, and this team has continued to deliver through it for our community…We’re here to do the most creative and courageous work of our lives, and that’s what we’ll do together.”
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As the company looks to renew focus on the game console – after years of ad campaigns that have emphasized how you can access Xbox games through a variety of means – the Microsoft branch of gaming reverted from Microsoft Gaming back to Xbox, and the Xbox logo got its green color back after being a minimalist white and black for years.
Meanwhile, Sharma also announced the company would be lowering the cost of its gaming subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, from $29.99 per month to $22.99 per month at the effect of losing access to the newest Call of Duty title the same day it is released.
While Xbox helped usher in the era of gaming that we know today, it has lagged in recent years as it struggled to innovate while directly competing with Sony’s Playstation, which serves the same exact audience. Before Sharma took over in February, the largest move that Xbox had made in years was to acquire major companies like Activision Blizzard rather than innovate and develop new IP on its own.
The changes taking place under Sharma’s leadership have the potential to breathe new life into a stagnant company, but the true test will come when Xbox releases its next gaming console. Consumers’ willingness to spend money on a new console will reveal how committed they are to Xbox and if the company will continue to find success down the road.
To that degree, Nintendo saw massive success with the release of the Switch 2 last June, which sold over 3.5 million units in its first weeks on the market and has sold over 17 million units less than a year after its release. The success of the new console coincides with a surge in Nintendo’s popularity through means such as the SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE.
Sharma’s willingness to shake up Xbox only months into her tenure as CEO is good news for Xbox fans who have grown tired with the company’s safe moves in recent years. She seems committed to restoring the company back to its glory days where it dominated the market. Whether she will be successful in doing so is yet to be seen, but at least she is willing to try.
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