Reaction: Xbox Is Changing For The Better, And Now Microsoft Needs To Stay Consistent

Over the last week or so, we've seen yet more big changes over at Team Xbox. Following on from a busy few months with Asha Sharma in place, Microsoft announced a reversal in its Xbox Game Pass strategy; dropping day one Call of Duty as a result. Then, just the other day, Team Green put forward its new vision for Xbox, complete with four core aims laid out by the new leadership team. It's now very evident that Xbox is going in a different direction, and it needs to remain consistent to deliver on it.

To be clear, we're feeling pretty darn positive from all of this so far. Making Game Pass cheaper and removing new Call of Duty games from the service makes total sense - after all, COD is expensive as all-hell to make, and its hardcore fans (like me) will go out any buy the game pretty much every year anyway. The last few day one Black Ops launches have felt like bonuses for existing subscribers rather than a way to keep core COD fans subscribing, and we're sure lots of those existing subscribers like the sound of a price cut instead.

As for those other changes laid out by Team Xbox, well, those are a lot more complicated and will take time to fully digest and unpack. However, a return to 'Xbox' rather than 'Microsoft Gaming' is always going to go down well with us, and the notes about solidifying the Xbox Series X|S platform as we move towards Project Helix — along with improvements to Game Pass economics, third-party partnerships and more — generally sound fantastic. We just need to see all of this come to fruition in the coming months and years.

And that brings us back to our main point here - we really need to see some consistency in messaging from Microsoft now. The last few years have been an absolute rollercoaster when it comes to knowing what exactly Xbox will do next, and now with Asha Sharma in place, it does feel like things are finally settling down and becoming a bit more predictable. Keep Game Pass at a price that makes sense, don't forget your console audience and keep delivering amazing games - it sounds simple, but we think these are the core pillars to keep Xbox thriving. And then, the team can build off that with some of these other goals that have been laid out.

If we have any criticism for the way things are going at minute, it's probably that a lot of this is high-level stuff right now, and specifics are still thin on the ground. However, with that recent Game Pass price change, we're starting to see real evidence that the new Xbox regime is serious about its new direction, and we have faith that we'll see similar results from their other aims. It's going to be an interesting transition to the Project Helix generation, that's for sure.

What do you think to all of this? Are you happy with the changes laid out so far, or are you waiting for more real evidence to form an opinion on all of it?

Talk to us about Asha Sharma, Team Xbox and the future of the brand down below.