When we first reported on Microsoft’s new “This Is An Xbox” campaign, it was hard to take it seriously. We do understand Microsoft is trying to spread the word about how Xbox is playable on PC and the cloud, beyond the captive audience of hardcore gamers, to win over lapsed and casual fans.
They may have timed this campaign after confirming that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be a resounding success, to piggyback off of the hype that they created in marketing that game for their platform.
But now it looks like there may be more to this advertising campaign than it appears.
Only yesterday, Xbox made a flippant “This Is An Xbox” post on Threads, showcasing that an Xbox Series X, an ROG Ally, a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and a Lenovo Legion gaming laptop, are all an Xbox. One could take for granted that this is just the latest post they are making as part of that campaign. Interestingly, the move to Threads seems to indicate that Microsoft is investigating if they will do better business advertising there than on Twitter.
Speaking of Twitter, video game peripheral company 8BitDo made a pretty formal announcement on their Twitter account. They said:
“Retro Green. Future Ready.
Mark your calendar: 8:00 AM PST, November 28th.
Light up your horizon. Stay tuned.
#8BitDo #Xbox”
8BitDo is most closely associated with the Nintendo Switch and retro consoles, as they had been making controllers, controller update kits, adapters, and other peripherals for the Nintendo Switch, as well as older consoles like the PlayStation, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, etc. But more recently, 8BitDo has started a business relationship with Xbox, to make controllers and peripherals for them.
This started with 8BitDo controllers made for xCloud, but has now expanded to include Xbox Series X|S controllers, a dedicated Xbox fightstick, and accessibility controller, and even media remotes for Xbox. Xbox has a lot of other companies making controllers and peripherals for them too, but they have gone above and beyond to bring 8BitDo to their fold.
It could be that 8BitDo just wants to generate hype for the latest Xbox controller that they are making. But there’s a third side to this that hints that it could be something more.
On BlueSky, Tom Warren of The Verge posted:
“I think this will make more sense soon.”
He made this post with an image of Microsoft’s “This Is An Xbox” ad slogan. Content creator Parris Vicious then responded to Warren’s post, saying: “I think so too.”
So what could this possibly be? We did see someone in Warren’s replies, with a very wild guess based on a rumor from NeoGAF from the start of this year. A new Microsoft OEM category for Xbox gaming PCs certainly sounds interesting, but it certainly sounds like Microsoft muddling with the same mistakes that Valve did with Steam Machines,. Or if you want to go all the way back, the same mistakes that EA founder Trip Hawkins made with the 3DO.
In any case, that’s only one guess of what could be something more or less ambitious. What we did make note of is that Xbox named three of their Windows OEM partners, in ASUS, Samsung, and Lenovo, in their “This Is An Xbox” ad on Threads. So maybe there’s something to it…
