Microsoft Abruptly Ends This Is An Xbox Campaign To Prepare For Future Hardware

In yet another sign that Microsoft is going all-in with its renewed focus on Xbox and the brand's transformation back to its console roots, the controversial 'This is an Xbox' marketing campaign is being scrubbed from its website. It hasn't entirely disappeared, but a visit to the blog post announcing the controversial campaign just 16 months ago now reads, "Oops! That page cannot be found."

Oops indeed. The campaign attempted to paint Xbox as more of an idea than a singular thing, that idea being that practically any device could essentially be an Xbox through the magic of cloud game streaming. Your smart TV? That's an Xbox. Your smartphone, laptop, tablet, and handheld? Those are all virtual Xbox devices, too.

The campaign never really resonated with gamers, and instead it sparked a bunch of memes over what was perceived as being somewhat of a tone deaf marketing play.

To be fair, Microsoft meant well with the campaign, and it's not moving away from cloud game streaming any time soon. However, it did shake up the Xbox team in a big way with the departures of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, formerly the CEO of Microsoft Gaming and Xbox President, respectively.

Asha Sharma, who's been with Microsoft for two years and previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and Vice President at Meta, is now in charge of reinvigorating Xbox and she's made clear that the core console experience is big part of that going forward.

"We will recommit to our core Xbox fans and players, those who have invested with us for the past 25 years, and to the developers who build the expansive universes and experiences that are embraced by players across the world. We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console which has shaped who we are. It connects us to the players and fans who invest in Xbox, and to the developers who build ambitious experiences for it," Sharma said.

Xbox at GDC 🔥 Sneak peek #GDC2026 pic.twitter.com/80amO5lbfh

— Microsoft Game Dev (@MSFTGameDev) March 11, 2026

Since the shakeup, Microsoft has started teasing its next-generation console codenamed Project Helix. GDC 2026 this week presented an opportunity to push Microsoft's Xbox messaging further, and it did that by showing off teaser images of its next-generation Xbox Development Kit and revealing a few key details.

Specifically, Microsoft confirmed that Project Helix is powered by a custom AMD system-on-chip (SoC), which we pretty much already knew, and unveiled that AMD's FSR Diamond will be natively optimized and deeply integrated into the GDK.

In short, the hype and excitement are building, and while game streaming is still in the cards, the 'This is an Xbox' mantra looks to be dead.