November 17th 2024.
As a reader, I was not impressed by Microsoft's new 'This is an Xbox' marketing campaign. It seems like Xbox has already gone third party, which is a big blow to their image. It's surprising because Microsoft is a company worth over $3 trillion, yet they have always struggled with their marketing strategies. It's almost as if they don't want to spend money on talented staff, which is quite bizarre considering their wealth. So, it's not just Xbox that has poor marketing, it seems to be a company-wide issue.
I say this because, as you may have already guessed, their latest marketing campaign for 'This is an Xbox' is incredibly bad. It goes beyond the point of 'I could do better than this' and enters the realm of 'Anyone could have done better than this'. It's so bad that it makes you wonder if Sony paid for the ads and Xbox is unaware that they are being displayed everywhere.
In case you haven't seen the ads, they are promoting the fact that you don't need to own an Xbox console to play Xbox games. You can use a PC, mobile device, or even a smart TV. However, this is not entirely accurate as the Xbox cloud streaming service is still in beta and, from my own experience, it's not very good compared to other competitors like GeForce Now.
It's no surprise that they are promoting this right now, as Xbox console sales are declining. It seems like it's their last resort to attract customers. However, they are not doing a good job at it. The main poster for the campaign is a picture of a TV with dotted lines around it and the phrase 'This is also an Xbox, by itself'. It's a clumsy sentence that only highlights how confusing and strange the whole campaign is.
But it's not just the poor taglines that are the issue, the whole concept doesn't make sense. The average person seeing these ads won't suddenly sign up for Game Pass on their smart TV. Most people who are not gamers wouldn't even understand what the ads are about, as they don't mention Game Pass clearly.
If you do understand the message, it's quite clear: you don't need to buy an Xbox console, you can play the same games on other devices and save yourself £500. And if you're well-informed, you'll also realize that this includes PlayStation 5 as well.
This all happened at the same time when Xbox announced that they are making a next-gen console and a handheld, while also stating that there are no restrictions on making games available on other platforms. This means that popular games like Halo and Gears of War could potentially come to PlayStation 5.
I highly doubt that Microsoft is lying about making new consoles, but I also doubt that they will be a major player in the console market. It might be a collector's item for hardcore fans, but most people won't even know about it, let alone buy it.
Microsoft won't openly admit what's happening here because it makes them look bad, but the truth is quite obvious: they are essentially a third-party publisher now. They are like Activision Blizzard, with Bethesda and other studios attached to them. They might continue to sell consoles, but it's not their main focus. Their revenue comes from software sales, not hardware.
Xbox is currently one step above Sega in terms of selling consoles, and I'm sure they will soon be on the same level, with their consoles being treated as promotional items and mini-consoles. Microsoft is not going third party, they already have.
In terms of competing with PlayStation, they have failed miserably. They had four attempts and none of them were successful, with the last two being barely competitive. I don't say this with any sense of joy, but to cut through the misleading statements and distractions that Microsoft is throwing at us.
But I do believe that they might still come out on top against PlayStation in the future. Not as a console manufacturer, but when streaming becomes the norm and consoles become obsolete. That's when they might become a strong contender again. Although, I have a feeling that their marketing will still be terrible.
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