Xbox's move from 'edgy' to 'everyone' | This Week in Business

gamesindustry.biz:

Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Friday 24th June 2022

I know this column is supposed to be about what's happening this week in the industry, but to be honest, it's been a pretty slow news week for games. It turns out the post-E3 news lull happens even when you technically don't have an E3.

So instead, let's talk about something that's been going on for a while, and hang the entire thing off an observation someone happened to make about that thing this week. That still counts, right?

QUOTE | "Been thinking lately about how when I was growing up, I perceived Xbox as this really edgy, masculine, aggressively GAMER brand. Never, ever felt it was for me. It is *wild* how they've managed to 180 their messaging so thoroughly to become the 'gaming's for everyone' folks." - IGN (and formerly GamesIndustry.biz) reporter Rebekah Valentine pointing out on Twitter this week that Microsoft has undergone a significant rebranding over the years.

Rebekah's absolutely right, and if we go back and look at the evolution of the Xbox brand, we can see it shifting that messaging clearly. First, let's go back and establish what Xbox's original brand strategy actually was: an attempt to appeal specifically to the stereotypical capital-G "Gamer" identity.

QUOTE | "Our energetic brand personality mirrors the edgy Xbox brand, which is already resonating with our customers." - Taco Bell exec Debbie Myers in April of 2001, making it clear that even seven months before the first Xbox console hit shelves, the brand identity was "edgy."

QUOTE | "When you're new, you have to be clear about what you stand for as a brand. And I think that particular idea really encapsulated everything that we were trying to represent as a new brand in the video games industry." -