Just weeks after Phil Spencer’s retirement from being CEO at Microsoft Gaming and the departure of former Xbox president Sarah Bond, it looks like Microsoft has silently shut down its “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign. As caught by GameDeveloper, Xbox Wire no longer seems to have any published pages under the “This is an Xbox” tag.
Attempting to directly check stories under that tag results in a “404 Not Found” error, which means that the company has likely purged all of its stories related to the campaign, along with the tag itself. For those curious enough to actually check out details about the marketing campaign, the only way to access the Xbox Wire article, published back in November 2024, seems to be through Archive Today.
The “This is an Xbox” campaign revolved entirely around establishing Xbox as a multiplatform brand rather than a single console. Under the campaign, the company had released several short clips where it would point to different computers and smartphones, noting that “this is an Xbox” thanks to services like Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It is worth noting that the campaign was Bond’s brainchild.
A report from last month, shortly after her resignation from Microsoft was announced, indicated that Bond had come under scrutiny for the campaign. Reception had reportedly been mixed from employees. The multiplatform approach that focused on cloud gaming and mobile allegedly “offended many employees internally,” with some saying that Bond was also difficult to work with. This led to the campaign “failing” and being “questioned multiple times” internally at Microsoft.
While whether or not the perceived failure of the “This is an Xbox” campaign led to Bond’s eventual departure, in a post on LinkedIn, she noted that it was “the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally.” Discussing her tenure at Xbox, Bond wrote about “helping lead” the company “through what would be a critical period of change” following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2022.
“With that, I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally,” she wrote. “We’re living through a transformative technological era that will shape the next generation of our industry, and I’m energized by what’s ahead.”
As for new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, Bond regarded her quite highly, writing about having spent time with her in the midst of the transition in Xbox leadership.
In the meantime, Sharma reportedly brought in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella into an internal Q&A recently to discuss the company’s overall vision for gaming. During the Q&A, Nadella expressed happiness over being present, and called gaming one of the “core identities” of Microsoft. He also spoke about his conversations with Spencer, and how Microsoft wants to continue being a major presence in the gaming industry. “We have to be the best-in-class at it,” he said.
Microsoft recently reaffirmed its commitment to staying in the gaming industry by confirming that it will be sending out alpha units for Project Helix’s development kits to developers next year.
