Microsoft makes one final Xbox One backflip

[Yugioh21]

Now that former Microsoft Studio boss Phil Spencer is the head of Xbox, following on from Don Mattrick’s resignation last July, Microsoft can now focus on games.

Wait, what? It wasn’t already doing that?

Strangely, Phil Spencer’s recent comments represent perhaps the number one problem Xbox One has: a lack of identity.

Strange because Xbox has always been known as a gaming brand, but it strayed from the vision with an entertainment-focused philosophy that was mocked by Sony and blasted by gamers.

Now, Spencer insists, the focus will be on making sure “everybody understands that Xbox is a gaming brand.”

The comments are comical: how did Microsoft stray so far off the mark with the Xbox brand that it now needs to reeducate people that it’s about gaming? Spencer’s comments represent a stunning transformation that has gone from an "entertainment first, gaming second" ideal, to a “we’re all about gaming” direction.

"How did Microsoft stray so far off the mark with the Xbox brand that it now needs to reeducate people that it’s about gaming?"

Astonishingly, this wasn’t what Xbox One was about on launch day, and, seemingly, it isn’t about that now. Yesterday I wrote about Infamous: Second Son’s strong push to reinvigorate, or at least reaffirm the importance of the single-player experience.

The Xbox name needs more than just a strong stream of exclusive single-player offerings: it needs to realign itself with gamers, just as it did with the first Xbox, and as it did with the 360.

That’s not to say that its entertainment offerings need to be diluted: its capacity to act as an entertainment hub is part of its defining features. But there’s always been a clear disconnect between the vision Microsoft wants to project about Xbox One, and how those that are buying it connect with the Xbox name.

Spencer is doing more than just confirming that Xbox is about games: he is steering the brand back to games. For him, ensuring the Xbox affiliation with games -- “internally” and “externally” -- is strong is something he is obviously focused on. It’s strange that it wasn’t already like this.

The commentary is damning because, even as a staunch defender of what Microsoft has tried to do with the Xbox One, it has a long way to go to build up the leg power to push it through the generation.

The Xbox 360 had the legs from launch day, but the Xbox One’s distinctive lack of vision and direction, as evident in the frequent policy backflips, has hindered its capacity to seem embedded in gaming culture. That is where the PlayStation 4 has trumped it, and it’s one of the primary reasons why it’s being outsold by Sony’s beast.

With E3 fast approaching and a promise of new and exciting franchises, hopefully Xbox One exclusives, Microsoft has plenty of time to turn the tide and reestablish itself as a gaming brand, “first and foremost”.