Former Blizzard Leisure president Mike Ybarra has lately criticized Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign, calling it the improper transfer for the Xbox model. Microsoft’s dealing with of Xbox has been controversial in recent times, and plenty of followers are skeptical of the longer term, an opinion echoed by Ybarra’s feedback.
Microsoft first began its controversial “This is an Xbox” campaign again in November 2024. The advert marketing campaign in contrast the Xbox Sequence X/S consoles to tablets, smartphones, VR headsets, and laptops, labeling them as “an Xbox” resulting from gaining access to Recreation Move. The marketing campaign was not well-received on the time, as many followers argued that Microsoft was diluting the Xbox model, particularly when contemplating the more and more distinguished multiplatform method.
Mike Ybarra Criticizes Microsoft’s ‘That is an Xbox’ Technique
Ybarra recently touched on the controversial marketing campaign when responding to a gamer complaining about the recently released ROG Xbox Ally utilizing Home windows as a substitute of the Xbox OS. The chief defined that the choice is smart, contemplating the dearth of Xbox exclusives. The ex-Blizzard president additionally claimed that “only a moron” would proceed to make consoles when all video games have been third-party releases. He additionally talked about that “This is an Xbox” was a “wrong idea” on the “wrong time.” In response to Ybarra, if video games don’t have parity between a console and different units, it merely doesn’t make sense to name these different platforms an Xbox, which might confuse shoppers.
Regardless of Ybarra’s criticism, Microsoft appears to be targeted on its present technique of supporting the Home windows OS. A latest rumor even identified that Microsoft is working on official Xbox emulation for Windows. If the rumor is appropriate, this transfer might deliver basic Xbox video games to the ROG Xbox Ally.
It’s doubtless that the multiplatform method and having a console can even proceed to be a part of the Xbox ecosystem. Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed that the next-gen Xbox is currently in development in a partnership with AMD, responding to latest rumors that the thought might have been scrapped. So, it stays to be seen how profitable Xbox’s next-gen console can be, and whether or not Microsoft will proceed to launch just a few of its first-party video games on PlayStation and comparable platforms, or will go all-in in its multiplatform technique.

- Model
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Microsoft
- Unique Launch Date
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November 10, 2020
- Unique MSRP (USD)
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$499
- Working System
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Proprietary (Home windows-based)
- Processor
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Customized AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz
- Decision
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720p – 4K UHD