Microsoft goes back to Xbox and ditches Microsoft Gaming as new leaders admit "players are frustrated" with the console and pricing: "We have to be honest about where we are"

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
• Email

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful

Want to add more newsletters?

Join the club

Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.

Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter

Microsoft Gaming is changing its name back to Xbox as new leadership admits its losing players to languishing console features, rising prices, and a minimal presence on PC.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty explain in a joint Xbox Wire post also "sent to Team Xbox employees globally," informing them "We Are Xbox." Literally – they are Xbox again, since "'Microsoft Gaming' describes our structure but it does not describe our ambition," Sharma and Booty write. "So, we are going back to where we started and changing our team's name."

Microsoft Gaming is a relatively new concept created to represent the company as a historically massive conglomerate. It was established in 2022, after Xbox had successfully acquired Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal that made some industry regulators weep. Likewise, Sharma and Booty now seem eager to associate the company with the more home-cooked feeling of Xbox in the 2000s.

Article continues below

They write in their post, "From the beginning, Xbox was built by people willing to try things that others wouldn't. We placed a consumer bet inside an enterprise company because we believed gaming would define the living room, and we were at risk of missing it.

"That spirit has carried us through the last 25 years, and it is required to carry us forward."

The company's leaders know modern Xbox "players are frustrated. New feature drops on console have been less frequent. Our presence on PC isn't strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with."

The solution, they think, is to re-establish "console is at the foundation" of Xbox while sprinkling some of that "everything is an Xbox" rhetoric Microsoft Gaming had been using in recent years. Asha and Booty reiterate, "You can play where you want, and your games, progress, friends, and identity stay with you across console, PC, mobile, and cloud."

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

But "we have to be honest about where we are," they conclude. "We're a challenger, and meeting this moment will require pace, energy, and a level of self-critique that should feel uncomfortable."

Xbox Game Pass gets "grim prognosis" from former PlayStation CEO, new Xbox head Asha Sharma tells him they should "chat sometime."

TOPICS CATEGORIES

Ashley BardhanSenior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

View More

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout LATEST ARTICLES

1. 1A new Studio Ghibli short is releasing in July, but there's a major catch if you want to see it
2. 2Bloodborne movie producer Jacksepticeye wants to "celebrate a win" for the beloved action RPG after so many Ls
3. 3The 5 biggest changes coming to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
4. 46 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more (April 24-April 26)
5. 5Fallout New Vegas devs "got in trouble" after forgetting about some trademarks, says Obsidian vet