Xbox is getting a new boot screen next week — and that's just the start
Xbox Series X|S consoles will show a new boot animation and play a new startup sound from May 13 — a small visual change, but part of a deliberate effort by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to reshape how the brand looks and feels. Sharma took over from Phil Spencer in February 2026 and has since moved quickly, retiring the "Microsoft Gaming" name in favor of the simpler Xbox label and refreshing logos across consoles, marketing, and offices.
The boot screen update, announced by Sharma on X, strips the word "Xbox" from the logo and leans into a clean green identity. Journalist Tom Warren shared a side-by-side comparison of the old and new sequences.
New boot up coming next Wednesday. Sound on! pic.twitter.com/9HHrZHwjpH
— Asha (@asha_shar) May 6, 2026
here's the old Xbox boot animation and sound vs. the new one pic.twitter.com/OW6mYTsI3j
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 6, 2026
More than a logo
The cosmetic refresh sits alongside bigger structural changes. Game Pass Ultimate has been cut from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, with PC Game Pass dropping from $16.49 to $13.99. Per CNBC, Sharma told employees internally that the service had simply become too expensive — framing the cuts as course correction rather than a promotional move. That still leaves Game Pass Ultimate noticeably pricier than Sony's PlayStation Plus Extra at $14.99 per month.
The subscription changes come with a catch. Future Call of Duty titles will no longer arrive on Game Pass at launch — they'll join the service 12 months after release, according to GameRant. That directly contradicts one of the loudest selling points Microsoft made when it spent $69.7 billion acquiring Activision Blizzard.
What's next
Sharma has also flagged a renewed push on first-party exclusives and hardware. Project Helix — the next-generation Xbox console built around a custom AMD SoC — is in development, with developer alpha units expected no earlier than 2027. The console is designed to run both Xbox and PC games. Separately, Microsoft has cancelled plans for a Copilot Gaming AI assistant on consoles.
A new startup chime won't fix subscriber numbers or quiet the questions around Call of Duty. But it does mark a visible break from the Spencer era, and Sharma is clearly moving faster than most expected.
