In a surprising pivot, Xbox has made its first minor course correction since new Xbox boss, Asha Sharma, took the reins. What’s really odd about the situation is how public it was.
Speaking on the official Xbox podcast a few days ago, Matt Booty (head of Xbox Game Studios) announced that the brand would continue to be transparent about multiplatform games, explicitly showing trailers with PlayStation and Nintendo logos if the game was coming to those platforms.
“We’ll be very clear about what platforms a game is coming to and want to continue the precedent. I think we’ve got a good system going where we make it clear in the Showcase.” – Matt Booty
This strategy in stark contrast to their competitors—PlayStation and Nintendo rarely acknowledge rival platforms in their showcases. It can almost be comical sometimes. But it makes sense: you want people to buy games on your hardware where you get the biggest cut.
But just days later, Asha Sharma took to social media, saying that they got it wrong based on fan feedback.
“Seeing the feedback on logos. It was a miss, and I own it. We are talking about how we adjust for future Xbox shows.” – Asha Sharma
What this means isn’t clear yet. Will they completely remove any mentions of PlayStation or Nintendo, even when discussing games that are already known to be coming to those platforms? If they show off the recently delayed Fable, which is aleady announced for PS5, will there be no PlayStation logo?
It’s a curious shift. While Sony and Nintendo often stay laser-focused on their own first-party lineups and pretend that other brands don’t exist, Xbox has played into its multiplatform initiative by doing the opposite.
By removing the logos, Xbox risks alienating potential cross-platform buyers. After all, lots of PlayStation and Nintendo gamers will be watching the upcoming Xbox showcase because they know the games will probably be coming to their machines. But removing competitor’s logos puts the emphasis back on Xbox and avoids the perception of weakness in their own brand.
The question now is whether Sharma is overreacting to a small portion of vocal fans or if this really is the right move?
WGB 