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Microsoft Rebrands Gaming Division to Xbox and Unveils Player-Focused Reset

Xbox's new leaders refocus on daily active players to rebuild trust through hardware, service, pricing, exclusivity changes.

Overview

  • Xbox, which disclosed the shift on Thursday in a public “We Are Xbox” memo, dropped the Microsoft Gaming name and restored the Xbox brand.
  • The company cut prices for Xbox Game Pass, its monthly game library, earlier this week, while new Call of Duty titles will arrive on the service about a year after their retail launch.
  • The strategy sets daily active players as the key metric and organizes work into four tracks—hardware, content, experience, services—while leadership reevaluates exclusivity and release timing.
  • Console remains the foundation as Xbox aims to stabilize the current generation and deliver Project Helix, a next platform intended to align performance across console and PC.
  • Asha Sharma acknowledged player pain points such as slower console feature drops, a weak PC presence, higher costs, and fragmented discovery and social tools, and early visible changes include new “Return of Xbox” signage and a refreshed logo on Microsoft sites.