Xbox's New Ad Campaign Is Neat but Doesn't Paint the Whole Picture

Xbox really wants you to think nearly anything can be an Xbox. On Thursday, Microsoft and Xbox formally introduced the world to its new ad campaign. The “This is an Xbox” campaign featured images of all the devices on which players can access the Xbox ecosystem: laptops, traditional consoles, gaming handhelds, VR headsets, and even streaming gadgets like the Fire Stick. It’s the logical next step for what the company’s been transitioning toward for some time now — letting players play what they want wherever they want.

It’s a pretty cool ad campaign. It’s bold and straightforward. It’s easily meme-able and identifiable. Its messaging is fairly clear in getting the most casual of game fans onboard with the idea of playing the likes of Halo and Gears on the very same screen they’re likely looking at.

However, the campaign doesn’t quite paint the full picture of what the Xbox ecosystem is actually like in its current state.

The future that Xbox has promised this generation has been appealing. Stuff like Quick Resume, and Smart Delivery, are intelligent, user-friendly features that just work. Unfortunately, that isn’t quite the case with the “Play Anywhere” mantra it's been driving home. Don’t get it wrong: when it does, it's glorious. There’s nothing better than turning off my Xbox after a play session of Another Crab’s Treasure in the living room, then continuing that session on my Steam Deck in bed minutes later. It’s a future that feels as revelatory as the Nintendo Switch did in 2017.

But that experience isn’t standardized across Xbox’s digital library. Certain games are still siloed to certain features. Frostpunk 2, one of PC Game Pass’s biggest gets this year, is still not available via streaming. Players still can’t buy games outright on Xbox’s Cloud Gaming platform.

For players in the Xbox ecosystem through something like Samsung TV’s Xbox app, that means there’s no way to continue playing a title like Like A Dragon: Ishin after it leaves the service for good this month. Those gamers are totally at the whim of whatever licenses Microsoft can secure.

The Xbox experience across the breadth of devices it’s available on also has a long way to go. While playing Another Crabs Treasure on my Steam Deck feels like magic once I get it going, the method of getting there always feels a little janky. From what ROG Ally owners have to say about using Game Pass, the process is similarly awkward on ASUS’s handheld. There are devices that offer lesser experiences compared to others.

Xbox head Phil Spencer himself told Bloomberg this week that smoothing over these experiences is a priority for the company. But the current state of things might be disappointing to those who jump in after an ad boldly declared their iPhone or gaming handheld “is an Xbox” in the same way a Series S is.

There are also the little things to consider. For current Xbox owners, the new “Play Anywhere” rule still doesn’t apply to the disc-based games in their library. This digital future has essentially burned up all the goodwill the company got for making older Xbox games playable on current hardware. Certain high-profile evergreen releases like Grand Theft Auto V aren’t yet mainstays on the service, a deal breaker for some players looking to join their friends online.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

All of these things hamper the messaging behind the current ad campaign. And that’s before considering that Cloud Gaming still has its share of issues like latency and the lack of quality internet access across the country.

The “This Is An Xbox” campaign may work a year from now. But as it stands today, not everything with a screen and internet connection is quite up to the standard of Microsoft’s traditional console. Microsoft has impressive tech and compatibility with existing devices that suggest that day is closer than ever. But selling a service on the promise of what’s to come risks causing more harm than good with new players.