Xbox Ditches AI ‘Gaming Copilot’ Reshuffles Leadership, But The Ship Is Still Sinking

Xbox, the one X-themed company not owned by Elon Musk, is in dire straits at the moment, facing declining sales made worse by several crucial business missteps.

Just this year, Microsoft Gaming’s revenue has been down 7%. Content and services: down 5%. And hardware revenue (mostly from Xbox consoles themselves) is down 33%.

But now with new CEO, Asha Sharma, at the helm, Xbox is making some rapid U-turns.

Firstly, she’s dropping development on the wildly unpopular AI gaming assistant ‘Copilot’. This tool was pitched as “your personal gaming sidekick with Xbox.” Oh, cool, I bet there were lots of things it could do, right? “With in-game assistance, get unstuck, pass roadblocks, and level-up your gameplay.” Oh nice, so it can do real-time walk-throughs that’s a cool feature, what else can it do?

“The guide you want, when you want it. Brainstorm strategies and get tips or insights with personalized coaching.” Ah, OK, so it can just do walk-throughs. Gotcha.

Sharma has also shaken up the Xbox leadership, bringing over four colleagues from her former AI division and shuffling around a number of other roles.

Last month Sharma also ended the “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign (presumably because people now know what an Xbox is), she dropped the ‘Microsoft Gaming’ branding, unveiled a new logo, and cut the price of the Xbox Game Pass.

(Just an aside on ‘This is an Xbox’. The whole campaign was designed to say that anything could be an Xbox, your phone, your TV, your laptop, basically saying that you don’t need to buy an Xbox anymore. Just an incredible self-own, guys.)

All smart changes, but will they be enough to right the sinking ship and compete with overachievers like PlayStation and Nintendo?

Good question! Let’s ask Gaming Copilot (Beta)! Hey, Copilot, will Xbox get back on track and become a successful gaming console again?

“Sure, I can offer tips… hints… anything you need.”

Ok, yeah, well, an answer to my question would be great.

“It really depends on your playstyle. If you’re looking for an AOE blast, ‘Weaver’s Bliss’ is the way to go. But if you like attacking from a distance, definitely go with ‘Amflied Rend’.”

…What? What are you talking about? Someone shut this thing down. Oh, you have? OK, great.