Seismic Change at Xbox

How am I feeling as an Xbox fan now? Well, a sense of ‘hope’ for where the brand can be taken based on the core principles and pillars of what Xbox means as a brand. There has been much hate for new female lead Asha Sharma. Hate that really isn’t based on any great level of substance. Whatever her credentials. Only time is going to tell where Xbox goes from here on out. It’s a brand that has obviously suffered a lot over the years, but at the same time, it’s doing a lot of ‘good’ for the players it’s actually serving and that’s where it needs to lead.

Phil Spencer did many good things for the Xbox division, but like with anything in business, the indirection of the brand has been killing it recently overall. My hope is that Asha can steady the ship, while also bringing back some of the core pillars and direction of what having an Xbox means to the consumer, or at least, what it should mean to be a part of the Xbox family.

That means, not only serving Xbox fans ‘in the right way’ with timed exclusivity and raising the brand standards across the board. But also, meeting PlayStation fans half-way to meet profitability targets. Obviously, they’re going to have to meet both fan bases half-way regarding software. You simply cannot dilute your own brand and then expect your hardware to have any sort of leverage. That’s just an unworkable situation.

Xbox should focus on its strengths as a brand. They should bring more third-party games that need an audience to Game Pass. They have a service here which is a subscription model that is a promotion platform in itself. Beast of Reincarnation is a game for example.

That’s something I am very much looking forward to trying out. They’re already building the foundations around ‘value’ in terms of the software so extend that with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate family plan. When the new storefronts launch on their next generation hardware.

They need to be making sure that the software they’re selling directly has benefits to it over their competition store-fronts.

Microsoft has the money to revive classic franchises. Work with third-party studios and fund other projects that fans crave. Doing this not only provides fandom but it creates a profile around your brand of being a source to champion. Sony has done many good things over the years where they’ve championed that same mentality. We can call it ‘the winners’ mentality. Because it’s something that really does deliver when it comes to entertainment.

I mean, just imagine, if they teamed up with Platinum games and brought back Scalebound. Imagine if they decided to actually do things beyond Call of Duty and brought back Singularity or even Prototype. They have the kind of IP that can cause a seismic shock within itself.

I’ve spoken about the fact that Xbox Game Pass can get even better. Just imagine if Xbox actually started utilizing some of the IP they now have under their umbrella. While also delivering this on mass to families in a more affordable way. It just makes sense regarding what they’re trying to do with their handheld hardware as well. You really want to be leading not only on content but on subscription metrics where it can benefit the consumer and the brand overall. It’s that combination and balance that best represents where I feel Xbox needs to go next.

It’s an exciting time to be an Xbox fan. Microsoft just needs to start understanding ‘what it has’ while also, protecting and committing to the platform. Because nothing kills a brand quite like uncertainty, you put that to bed, and then you can start building those pillars and realigning your ambitions. From a business point of view, this appointment could be onto something. Time will tell if Asha can match the expectations of Xbox fans and restore that ‘winning’ mentality. Because that’s what creates enthusiasm and breeds confidence and is something everyone can remain faithful to.