{"id":1822277,"date":"2026-03-12T13:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1822277"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:55:09","slug":"time-to-pay-your-last-respects-to-microsofts-this-is-an-xbox-campaign-as-it-appears-to-have-been-killed-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1822277","title":{"rendered":"Time to pay your last respects to Microsoft&#8217;s &#8220;This is an Xbox&#8221; campaign, as it appears to have been killed off"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Time to pay your last respects to Microsoft&#8217;s &#8220;This is an Xbox&#8221; campaign, as it appears to have been killed off<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Dead end.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/xbox-(1)_PG3QyDU.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Microsoft's This is an Xbox campaign with a sad face with Xbox logos for its eyes overlaid on top\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"xbox-(1)_PG3QyDU.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-12T13:55:09+00:00\">March 12, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/time-to-pay-your-last-respects-to-microsofts-this-is-an-xbox-campaign-as-it-appears-to-have-been-killed-off?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          21 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>This is an Xbox! Wait, is this an Xbox? Well, perhaps not anymore, as Microsoft appears to have quietly removed its marketing campaign which proclaimed the Xbox was less of a console and more of a platform that could be accessed on basically everything, even a toaster (ok, I am jesting a bit here for theatrical purposes, but just go with me on this).<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>As noticed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/marketing\/microsoft-quietly-retires-this-is-an-xbox-marketing-campaign\">Game Developer<\/a>, Microsoft&#8217;s blog post announcing &#8220;This Is An Xbox&#8221; alongside images of laptops and TV screens has gone the way of the dodo. Now, if you click the original link &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2024\/11\/14\/this-is-an-xbox\/\">and here it is in case you don&#8217;t believe me<\/a> &#8211; you will be met with a 404 error stating the page cannot be found.<\/p>\n<p>If you search for the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/tag\/this-is-an-xbox\/\">&#8216;This is an Xbox&#8217; tag on Xbox<\/a>, meanwhile, you will also be met with a vacant screen wondering what you are doing there.<\/p>\n<p>So, it appears that the rather controversial and unpopular Xbox marketing campaign is indeed dead. Its demise comes a matter of weeks after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/personas\/phil-spencer\">Phil Spencer<\/a> and Sarah Bond &#8211; who was said to be the brains behind the idea that Xbox could be anywhere, a campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-insider-report-paints-different-picture-of-spencer-retirement-and-bond-departure\">which &#8220;offended many Xbox employees&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; announced they would be leaving Microsoft.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/today-marks-an-exciting-new-chapter-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-retiring-amid-major-leadership-shakeup-that-sees-microsofts-coreai-president-taking-over-roll\">Spencer revealed he was retiring from Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the company<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-xbox-president-sarah-bond-bids-farewell-to-xbox-staff\">Bond suddenly departing as well<\/a>, despite many assuming she would succeed Spencer. Instead, that job has gone to Asha Sharma, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xboxs-new-head-of-gaming-has-no-tolerance-for-bad-ai-following-concerns-about-the-proliferation-of-ai-slop-and-sharmas-tech-background\">who was announced as Microsoft&#8217;s new gaming CEO in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"This is an Xbox campaign image\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/This-is-an-Xbox-campaign-image.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7798165137614679\" width=\"970\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"This is an Xbox campaign image\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"This-is-an-Xbox-campaign-image.jpg\" height=\"545\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7798165137614679\" width=\"970\"><figcaption>RIP.  | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Xbox<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Along with apparently booting the &#8220;This is an Xbox&#8221; campaign into the abyss since the start of her new role, Sharma has also confirmed the next-gen Xbox will play Xbox console games and PC games. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-boss-says-microsofts-next-gen-console-project-helix-can-play-both-your-xbox-and-pc-games-and-will-lead-in-performance\">Project Helix &#8211; as it is currently known &#8211; will &#8220;lead in performance&#8221;<\/a>, Sharma said earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>At GDC this week, Microsoft shared more details on its next generation of Xbox console, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/project-helix-dev-kits-not-going-out-until-2027-and-other-new-details-on-xboxs-next-gen-console\">including an overview of some early Project Helix features<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>This is an Xbox! Wait, is this an Xbox? Well, perhaps not anymore, as Microsoft appears to have quietly removed its marketing campaign which proclaimed the Xbox was less of a console and more of a platform that could be accessed on basically everything, even a toaster (ok, I am jesting a bit here for theatrical purposes, but just go with me on this).<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>As noticed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/marketing\/microsoft-quietly-retires-this-is-an-xbox-marketing-campaign\">Game Developer<\/a>, Microsoft&#8217;s blog post announcing &#8220;This Is An Xbox&#8221; alongside images of laptops and TV screens has gone the way of the dodo. Now, if you click the original link &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2024\/11\/14\/this-is-an-xbox\/\">and here it is in case you don&#8217;t believe me<\/a> &#8211; you will be met with a 404 error stating the page cannot be found.<\/p>\n<p>If you search for the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/tag\/this-is-an-xbox\/\">&#8216;This is an Xbox&#8217; tag on Xbox<\/a>, meanwhile, you will also be met with a vacant screen wondering what you are doing there.<\/p>\n<p>So, it appears that the rather controversial and unpopular Xbox marketing campaign is indeed dead. Its demise comes a matter of weeks after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/personas\/phil-spencer\">Phil Spencer<\/a> and Sarah Bond &#8211; who was said to be the brains behind the idea that Xbox could be anywhere, a campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-insider-report-paints-different-picture-of-spencer-retirement-and-bond-departure\">which &#8220;offended many Xbox employees&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; announced they would be leaving Microsoft.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/today-marks-an-exciting-new-chapter-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-retiring-amid-major-leadership-shakeup-that-sees-microsofts-coreai-president-taking-over-roll\">Spencer revealed he was retiring from Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the company<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-xbox-president-sarah-bond-bids-farewell-to-xbox-staff\">Bond suddenly departing as well<\/a>, despite many assuming she would succeed Spencer. Instead, that job has gone to Asha Sharma, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xboxs-new-head-of-gaming-has-no-tolerance-for-bad-ai-following-concerns-about-the-proliferation-of-ai-slop-and-sharmas-tech-background\">who was announced as Microsoft&#8217;s new gaming CEO in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"This is an Xbox campaign image\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/This-is-an-Xbox-campaign-image.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7798165137614679\" width=\"970\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"This is an Xbox campaign image\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"This-is-an-Xbox-campaign-image.jpg\" height=\"545\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7798165137614679\" width=\"970\"><figcaption>RIP.  | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Xbox<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Along with apparently booting the &#8220;This is an Xbox&#8221; campaign into the abyss since the start of her new role, Sharma has also confirmed the next-gen Xbox will play Xbox console games and PC games. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-boss-says-microsofts-next-gen-console-project-helix-can-play-both-your-xbox-and-pc-games-and-will-lead-in-performance\">Project Helix &#8211; as it is currently known &#8211; will &#8220;lead in performance&#8221;<\/a>, Sharma said earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>At GDC this week, Microsoft shared more details on its next generation of Xbox console, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/project-helix-dev-kits-not-going-out-until-2027-and-other-new-details-on-xboxs-next-gen-console\">including an overview of some early Project Helix features<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Time to pay your last respects to Microsoft&#8217;s &#8220;This is an Xbox&#8221; campaign, as it appears to have been killed off Dead end. Image credit: Eurogamer News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on March 12, 2026 21 comments This is an Xbox! Wait, is this an Xbox? Well, perhaps not anymore, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1822277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1822277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1822277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1822277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1822277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}