The new CEO of Xbox, Asha Sharma, has been shaking things up at the gaming giant. From renaming ‘Microsoft Gaming’ back to its former ‘Xbox’, to dropping prices on Game Pass subscription plans, she’s working hard to change the public perception of Microsoft’s gaming division.
In a new poll over on X (formerly Twitter) earlier in the week, she took things a step further further, allowing gamers online to vote over whether the Xbox name should be branded in full capitalization or not. The votes are in and professional social media accounts have been rebranded, as 65% of voters opted to rename the brand to ‘XBOX’.
This might not seem like a particularly big change, but the part that’s most significant is that the decision was made by the public. Sharma’s choice to allow Xbox fans to join in on the branding decision represents her broader ethos towards allowing gamers to shape and direct the future of the company, which may be pivotal to their attempts to regain ground in the market following the somewhat rocky Xbox Series X|S life cycle thus far.
Whilst it’s nice to have a voice in the branding, Xbox gamers have their sights set on something greater: exclusivity. The team at Xbox previously said they’re looking to “reevaluate” their approach to exclusivity of Xbox games on the platform, following major cross-platform releases like Starfield and even Halo making their way to Sony’s rival platform.
With PlayStation looking to turn back to their own platform and safeguard their franchises against cross-platform releases via PC in future, Sharma says the decision Xbox has to make will “take a data-driven approach”, but will require some time to implement given the “decade-long impact” the decisions have.
Time will tell what more new “XBOX” CEO Asha Sharma can do to revitalize the brand as a major competitive choice for gamers, but we’ll be sure to report on it all. Check back to GameObserver often for all the latest and greatest in gaming news stories.
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