The mega company pushes to simplify its branding amid Xbox’s move towards services
The future of Xbox isn’t Xbox hardware.
That’s been the obvious direction for Microsoft, as it continues to push into the subscription model space for its services and offerings. Xbox Live was an incredibly integral part of the Xbox brand, and set it apart from other video game companies as a giant value add for gamers who wanted to get online. That soon expanded to include more multiplayer, communities, freebies, events, and eventually spawned Game Pass and xCloud. While Xbox hardware was booming in the 360 era of the mid-2000s, the 20-teens saw the shift back towards its rivals, leaving the company to focus on growing its online portion.
Now, in 2021, Microsoft sees the future as more than just being locked onto one device, pushing Game Pass to mobile and PC, and perhaps other devices someday soon. With all of that in mind, the company is rebranding Xbox Live to just “Xbox” (for the Xbox network). This will distinguish its services aspect (Xbox) from the offerings on the service (Gold, Game Pass, xCloud, etc). While this may seem like a small change (removing one word), it’s actual a signal towards that eventual all-encompassing Xbox service that, like Office and other Microsoft products, eventually makes its way to non-Microsoft devices. Microsoft still produces Surface tablets, but Office is also available on iPads and Macs, and makes that much more money because of it. The “Xbox” network/service name change could signal the same direction for its gaming side.
Or, maybe not! Hey, it’s 2021, and strange things have happened over the last year that even we didn’t see coming. Xbox is certainly simplifying its messaging, which is an overall positive for the industry.
Source: The Verge
No Comments