Gone are the days when Xbox rhymed with a big black box under the TV. In 2024, Microsoft’s gaming brand is taking a radical turn by proclaiming that any connected device can potentially become “an Xbox”.
The announcement might seem trivial, but it marks a historic turning point in the video game industry. With its new campaign “ This is an Xbox“, Microsoft formalizes what many anticipated: Xbox is no longer a console, but a universal gaming platform.
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This strategic evolution is manifested through a marketing campaign which proclaims that virtually any screen can become “an Xbox”: smartphones, tablets, Samsung smart TVs, and even Meta Quest headsets.
A message that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when Xbox’s identity was intrinsically linked to its hardware.
The end of hardware as a priority
To understand the extent of this change, we must measure the progress made. Xbox was born as a physical console in 2001, in direct competition with Sony’s PlayStation 2. For nearly two decades, its identity was inseparable from its successive consoles. Today, Microsoft is making the radical bet of disconnecting its gaming brand from hardware.
This strategy is based on two technological pillars: Xbox Game Pass, its gaming subscription service, and cloud gaming, which allows streaming gaming on virtually any connected device.
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An ecosystem rather than a machine
The partnerships established by Xbox perfectly illustrate this new philosophy. From Samsung to Porsche via Crocs, the brand is multiplying improbable collaborations to demonstrate the universality of its platform. A clear message: Xbox is no longer an object, it is an ecosystem.
This transformation is not without risk. Purists could see this gradual abandonment of hardware as a form of betrayal. But Microsoft is betting that the future of gaming lies in accessibility and flexibility rather than in the raw power of the hardware.
A huge “Xbox” fleet
But, it is also a statistical issue for Microsoft: by now defining each compatible device as “an Xbox”, the company can potentially claim a considerably larger installed base.
A Samsung smart TV or an Android smartphone thus become a potential “Xbox”, which artificially inflates the brand’s penetration figures.
A marketing approach that allows Microsoft to compete, at least on paper, with PlayStation’s dominance in the traditional console sector.
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