Please file this story in the ‘expected, but still great’ folder. Microsoft, following the announced re-branding of the Windows Phone Marketplace to the Windows Phone Store, and the shuttering of the ‘Live’ brand in favor of the new Microsoft Account play, is pulling mentions of Live from titles in the Windows Phone store.
The fine folks over at WPCentral have it that Microsoft is cutting Live branding from apps in the Windows Phone titles associated with the Xbox LIVE system. To wit:
“That trend is now continuing, especially with “LIVE” as the Windows Phone team is excising that phrase from current Xbox LIVE Games for Windows Phone. The trend started weeks a go with Shoot1UP and since then, three more titles have the new look and name: Xbox – Windows Phone.”
Right, so the branding appears to be flipping from ‘Xbox LIVE for Windows Phone’ to, perhaps, ‘Xbox for Windows Phone,’ or, ‘Xbox on Windows Phone,’ or if Microsoft is smart, just ‘Xbox’ on Windows Phone. Don’t hold your breath, this company came up with ‘Windows Phone 7 Series’ and ‘Windows Vista Home Premium.’
From WPCentral again, the newly reworded game icons:
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What does this mean for your gaming and fun? Not a thing, but it is part of a critical shift by the company, realizing that the Live brand, the Internet version, not the Xbox material, was broken and shifty, towards the new Microsoft Account system. As TNW reported on the move:
Microsoft, in a single move, has set itself up to explode its cloud services, kill a brand that was, frankly, bad, and bring a big amount of cogency to its huge operating system bet.
Damn.
Peace, Live.
Top Image Credit: James Bowe
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