It's been clear for quite a few years now that Microsoft's idea of what “Xbox” actually means has evolved well past the physical consoles themselves. It now describes an entire ecosystem of software and services that spans all kinds of devices and is itself just one outlet for Microsoft's massive game publishing business.
It took a while for the industry to wrap its collective head around this change and some of the unusual bedfellows it created – for example, Microsoft is now one of the biggest third-party publishers on the PlayStation. Given the novelty and complexity of the situation, there is an open question as to how it would be communicated to consumers. How do you tell the world what Xbox actually is?
This week we got a good look at Microsoft's first real attempt to solve this problem – the “This is Xbox” marketing campaign, which will use the slogan to emphasize the fact that phones, computers, streaming devices, VR headsets and smart TVs are all “Xboxs” , as well as the existing Xbox Series S and X consoles.
The messaging is simple and fun, and it's a good effort to communicate the incredibly complex evolution of the Xbox ecosystem in a way that removes much of that complexity and instead highlights the main benefit to consumers.
However, it will probably go down like a lead balloon with a lot of Xbox fans. This evolution is a bitter pill for them to swallow, especially since it brings with it some changes that – while entirely commercially sound – look an awful lot like capitulation to a certain breed of veteran console warriors.
Microsoft's gaming titles are gradually becoming multi-platform by default, and garnering a lot of sales on PlayStation is difficult for people who have pinned part of their identity to Xbox consoles. They question what future there can be for game consoles whose platform holder has lost interest in the idea of software exclusives; a valid question in light of decades of industry logic that exclusives are the cornerstone of console sales.
Microsoft knows its strategic shift won't please all passengers, and its messaging is trying to assuage concerns where possible. I don't think it's a coincidence that the “This is Xbox” campaign – which some will no doubt and not entirely wrongly see as minimizing the importance of Xbox hardware to the overall ecosystem – was launched at the same time Phil Spencer was making a point of emphasizing the company's commitment to future hardware launches in interviews.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said the company will “definitely make more hardware and other devices in the future” — the “other devices” likely referring to earlier comments to Bloomberg where he confirmed that an Xbox handheld is in the works, though likely years away.
This part of the transition is always difficult. There are people who are wholeheartedly committed to the vision you had when you started – and nowhere is that more true than in the console game market, where people somehow feel encouraged to devote an entire part of their personal identity to brand loyalty to these devices .
Reorienting to a new approach is painful for them, and trying to keep those customers happy and loyal as much as possible through that transition will always be challenging. Talking about future hardware—even if that hardware is still in the concept stage and is years away at best—is certainly one way to keep them engaged and excited.
But they're not the target audience for most of what was said this week, and Spencer made it very clear in the same interview that while Microsoft may be committed to future hardware launches, Xbox hardware isn't really a growth market for them. lately. They see growth coming elsewhere – and in pursuit of that growth, they will build not only Xbox as a cross-platform offering, but also Microsoft's position as a cross-platform publisher.
Halo, Gears of War, Forza: the games that defined the Xbox platform will almost certainly be available on PlayStation in some form
When we talked about this aspect of the business, Spencer told Bloomberg that when it came to games, there were no red lines in the company's catalog when it came to games that couldn't be cross-platform. It's a pretty clear warning; sacred cows are absolutely on the menu now.
Shortly after the actual announcement of imminent availability, this is probably as close as we'll get to confirmation that Xbox's biggest franchises will appear on other platforms in the relatively near future.
Halo, Gears of War, Forza: the games that defined the Xbox platform will almost certainly be available on PlayStation in some form for years to come. This doesn't necessarily mean that PS5 will be the first launch of new titles in these franchises (although it doesn't rule it out either), but it basically means that an era of permanent platform exclusivity for these titles is coming. to the end. This is the last shoe that core Xbox fans, dismayed by the company's new direction, have been waiting to hear drop.
However, the commercial logic is unassailable. Franchises like Halo now exist in the same studio system as Call of Duty – which just had a record launch with a strategy that combined Game Pass availability on Xbox with strong unit sales on PlayStation and Steam.
There's no way a commercial strategy for Halo as a single-platform release can be justified when its stablemate franchise is doing so well with this cross-platform approach. If the main Xbox franchises are to remain commercially relevant and viable, they need to fit Microsoft's new business model – which is basically a gigantic multi-platform publisher with subscription and platform/services as one of its pillars.
This will also be appropriate for any new acquisitions that Spencer also hinted at; they will be focused on rounding out the publishing business, not securing exclusivity for the platform.
It's worth noting that Microsoft is not alone in this strategic shift. Sony may not be going to the same extremes by any means, but they're bringing most of their main titles to PC (albeit with a delay) and they're bringing a Horizon spin-off (Lego Horizon Adventures) to Switch, which are changes. this would have seemed unimaginable not so long ago.
Mindful of the feelings of Xbox customers, the company has been slow to remove the patch so far, but is now ready to rip it off quickly.
One interesting thing to consider is what kind of time frame Microsoft is considering for this transition. Mindful of the feelings of Xbox customers, the company has been slow to remove the patch so far, but a new marketing campaign and Spencer's catchphrases suggest that they are now ready to yank it off quickly.
This could indicate that many more high-profile Xbox titles will be heading to other platforms sooner rather than later. One goal they probably have in mind – and they'd like to achieve it reasonably quickly – is following the likes of EA and Ubisoft in introducing subscription services to the PlayStation Store, which will require a substantial software offering on the platform.
While it would by no means be “Game Pass on PlayStation”, having a large library of games from Microsoft, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard made available through Microsoft's game subscription on PlayStation would still be a significant step; maybe we'll end up with a cheeky “This is Xbox” campaign emblazoned on the PS5 image?
Whatever its fans may fear, Microsoft is showing no signs of following Sega's lead by becoming a “only” third-party publisher – but it's abundantly clear that the company's gaming business model overhaul continues apace, moving from a business reorganization to big- big public rebranding.
The goal is to separate the scale and success of the gaming business unit overall from the success of the Xbox hardware platform. The statement that there are no red lines left in the process of going multi-platform is a major statement of intent on this journey.
It may be an emotional couple of years for Xbox core fans – but based on how it's gone so far, it's likely to be the most commercially successful period in many years for Microsoft's games business.