Xbox is dead. Windows isn’t far behind.

So the president of Xbox just said the quiet part out loud: Xbox is dead.

Sarah Bond, the President of Xbox, said in a video this week quote:

“This is all about building you a gaming platform that’s always with you… So you can play the games you want, across devices, anywhere you are, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device.”

“That’s why we’re working closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming.”

Well, if that’s not the doctor declaring time of death, I don’t know what else it could be.

But this isn’t news. Xbox has been on the decline for over a decade and it seems Microsoft is finally giving up on the brand in favor of Windows.

And before anyone says “but Gardiner, this is from a video where Xbox announced a strategic partnership with AMD to build the next generation of Xbox consoles.” Get real.

Microsoft’s deep corporate incompetence is finally coming to fruition. And the fact that Xbox — a once-beloved gaming brand — is pivoting towards the fragmented and confusing PC-style of hardware development just proves how incredibly dumb they are. Windows has always been the objectively worst platform for gaming. Yet, it continues to power forward with sheer force of will rather than a coherent strategy or offering a superior product.

To prove the point of Microsoft’s sheer incompetence, it’s important to note that—despite Microsoft’s war chest—Sony has continued to embarrass the hell out of them for two console generations. Xbox went from the King of the Console with the 360 and lines out the door for midnight releases of their flagship games to “TV” and being firmly in last place. The 360 was so successful that it nearly destroyed the PC gaming market. Now they’ve made a 180 and they want to make Windows the best platform for gaming? Please.

And they’re in third place despite massive subsidies for Xbox Game Pass. Ya know, dropping Bill’s hard-crooked billions on two of the biggest publishers in the world. Despite all that, they still failed to make a dent in the console market and, furthermore, they’re losing market share in the PC OS ecosystem, too.

And now, their solution is to turn Windows into an Xbox OS?

...You know, because the PC Gaming Master Race is going to take kindly to their OS becoming more console-like.

This brilliant business strategy brought to you by the folks who brought you Microsoft Bob, Clippy the anthropomorphic paper clip, Windows Vista, DirectX 11, and Windows 11.

Xbox is officially dead. Microsoft is completely clueless. That video clinches it.

Now, all of this is clearly in response to the whole Valve/SteamOS/Steam Deck thing. It's reactionary on the part of Microsoft as they clearly have no plan or vision for their cons🤡🤡mer-facing brands. This is pure panic on the part of Microsoft, and understandably so. Microsoft is complacent and they want to wake from their slumber, flex a single anticompetitive muscle, retard progress and innovation for the next 25 years, and fall back asleep.

But they're about to lose their horde.

As the old adage goes, “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

We’re in the “fight you” stage, and the empire is about to fall.