'We Are Xbox' — Microsoft Kills the 'Microsoft Gaming' Name and Asha Sharma Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

Something significant happened at Microsoft yesterday. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and EVP and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty published an internal memo to all Team Xbox employees — and then immediately made it public — that amounts to one of the most honest statements a major gaming company has issued in years. The memo is titled "We Are Xbox." Its core message: the company knows it has problems, it knows players are frustrated, and it is committing, publicly, to fixing them.

The headline action is practical but symbolically enormous: "Microsoft Gaming" — the corporate name adopted in 2022 when Microsoft announced its $75.4 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition — is gone. The division is simply Xbox again.

What the Memo Actually Says

The memo is worth engaging with directly because it is, unusually, specific. Sharma and Booty open with a recognition of what Xbox has built — 500 million players globally, major franchises across entertainment — and then pivot sharply into what isn't working.

"Players are frustrated," the memo states plainly. "New feature drops on console have been less frequent. Our presence on PC isn't strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social, and personalization still feel too fragmented. Developers and publishers are asking for more, too: better tools, better insights, and a platform that helps them grow faster."

That is a company acknowledging, in writing, that its console hasn't been receiving features at an acceptable pace, that its PC strategy hasn't landed, and that pricing is a barrier. For a corporation the size of Microsoft to say this publicly — rather than in quarterly earnings calls hedged with optimism — is genuinely unusual.

The memo then articulates a vision: Xbox as a "global platform that connects players and creators everywhere", with the console as the foundation for a premium experience. The ambition for Xbox going forward will be measured by "active players" rather than hardware units sold — a metric shift that acknowledges where the business is actually headed.

The Brand Change

"Our best work happens when the full stack moves together. 'Microsoft Gaming' describes our structure but it does not describe our ambition. So, we are going back to where we started and changing our team's name," the memo reads. Xbox is Xbox again. The Microsoft Gaming name — which never fully took hold in the public consciousness anyway, with most players continuing to call the division Xbox regardless — is retired.

This isn't purely cosmetic. The rebrand signals a return to the Xbox identity as a consumer-facing brand rather than a corporate structure. Sharma has said repeatedly since taking over from Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond that "Xbox needs to be our identity" — this memo is the official institutional commitment to that principle.

What's Actually Changing

Beyond the name, the memo commits to four areas of focus: hardware, content, experiences, and services. The "experiences" section is the most specific — acknowledging that console features have lagged, PC presence needs strengthening, and social/discovery systems feel fragmented. These are product promises more than marketing statements, and they'll be tracked.

The memo also signals that Xbox will "consider changes to exclusivity," continuing Sharma's ongoing posture toward bringing Xbox games to more platforms. Forza Horizon 6 is already confirmed for PS5 later in 2026. The language in the memo suggests that conversation isn't done.

The Community Reaction

The response has been largely positive but cautiously qualified. Xbox fans have been burned before — Phil Spencer's early tenure generated the same combination of enthusiasm and optimism that Sharma's first months are producing. The most common refrain in community threads: "show us with games and features, not memos."

That's a fair standard. The memo is a promise. June's Xbox Games Showcase will be its first real test.

The "We Are Xbox" memo was published April 23, 2026, on Xbox Wire.

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