Xbox is killing the "Microsoft Gaming" brand just four years after it launched, with new CEO Asha Sharma declaring in an internal memo that "Microsoft Gaming describes our structure but it does not describe our ambition." The decision caps a dramatic first 62 days for Sharma, who replaced longtime Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer after his retirement earlier this year.
In an all-hands meeting detailed by The Verge's Tom Warren, Sharma told employees "Xbox needs to be our identity." She has since updated her LinkedIn title to "CEO Xbox." The "Microsoft Gaming" umbrella debuted in 2022 when the company announced its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. It was intended to signal a multi-brand entertainment conglomerate.
Instead, it diluted what millions of players recognized.
Sharma is reversing that logic entirely. The internal memo, co-signed by Matt Booty and published publicly by Xbox today, lays out a plan centered around "daily active players" as the new north star metric.
It acknowledges years of frustration: feature drops on console slowed, PC presence is weak, pricing got too expensive. The document's closing line: "We are Xbox."
Redecoration at Xbox headquarters reinforces the message. The Verge reported that offices now feature wall messages reading "return of Xbox," "great games," and "future of play." A redesigned Xbox logo appeared on an office elevator this week. The brand reset follows aggressive pricing moves. Game Pass Ultimate spiked to $30 per month last year under the previous leadership.
Sharma cut it back to $22.99, funding the reduction by pulling future Call of Duty titles from day-one Game Pass releases. New entries in Activision's flagship franchise will now join the service roughly a year after launch.
Sharma also announced seven FanFest events across Cologne, London, Mexico City, Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto following the June 7 Xbox Games Showcase in Los Angeles.
Xbox reaches over 500 million players globally, according to the company's own figures cited in Sharma's memo. But the brand has spent years recovering from missteps tied to its position inside a larger corporate structure.
"When Max reverted its name back to HBO Max... nobody cares about Max; they care about HBO," wrote Quinton O'Connor at TheGamer, drawing a comparison between both rebrand reversals.
"It dilutes the nomenclature that millions of long-time gamers are familiar with."
