Time to pay your last respects to Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” campaign, as it appears to have been killed off

This is an Xbox! Wait, is this an Xbox? Well, perhaps not anymore, as Microsoft appears to have quietly removed its marketing campaign which proclaimed the Xbox was less of a console and more of a platform that could be accessed on basically everything, even a toaster (ok, I am jesting a bit here for theatrical purposes, but just go with me on this).

As noticed by Game Developer, Microsoft’s blog post announcing “This Is An Xbox” alongside images of laptops and TV screens has gone the way of the dodo. Now, if you click the original link – and here it is in case you don’t believe me – you will be met with a 404 error stating the page cannot be found.

If you search for the ‘This is an Xbox’ tag on Xbox, meanwhile, you will also be met with a vacant screen wondering what you are doing there.

So, it appears that the rather controversial and unpopular Xbox marketing campaign is indeed dead. Its demise comes a matter of weeks after Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond – who was said to be the brains behind the idea that Xbox could be anywhere, a campaign which “offended many Xbox employees” – announced they would be leaving Microsoft.

Last month, Spencer revealed he was retiring from Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the company, with Bond suddenly departing as well, despite many assuming she would succeed Spencer. Instead, that job has gone to Asha Sharma, who was announced as Microsoft’s new gaming CEO in February.

Along with apparently booting the “This is an Xbox” campaign into the abyss since the start of her new role, Sharma has also confirmed the next-gen Xbox will play Xbox console games and PC games. Project Helix – as it is currently known – will “lead in performance”, Sharma said earlier this month.

At GDC this week, Microsoft shared more details on its next generation of Xbox console, including an overview of some early Project Helix features.