A few days ago, the gaming scene woke up to the news that an age-old console war had finally died. Not only was the original Halo: Combat Evolved getting a remake, but it was also officially confirmed that it would be released on the PS5. The Halo series was a rallying point for Xbox fans when fighting off Sony and Nintendo fans, and after 14 years of angry forum posts, Microsoft's console had lost its crown jewel.

While it was a big surprise, it wasn't totally out of the blue. The company had been experimenting with adding its games to its once-rival consoles, which seemed to be a working strategy when six of the top 10 PS5 games were Microsoft-owned. Well, Microsoft has announced its new rivals in the Xbox scene, and it's, uh...TikTok and movies. Yeah.

Xbox's president, Matt Booty, confirms that Sony and Nintendo are no longer his targets

In an interview with Xbox president Matt Booty, the New York Times unearthed some intriguing information about where the Xbox brand is going these days. The Xbox of today looks nothing like it did a decade ago; while the Microsoft of 2015 was all about exclusivity, service, and games, the company is now focusing on spreading its Xbox brand as far as it can go. We saw this come into effect as the company began rolling out Xbox Cloud Gaming, which the company advertised as a way to "make anything an Xbox." Microsoft also revealed plans for the PC Xbox app to collate all installed games, including those from Steam and the Epic Games Store, into one library.

So, now that the Xbox brand is less about the console and more about being a multimedia giant, who are Matt Booty's main targets? Well, it seems that Sony and Nintendo have officially lost a long-time rival:

“Our biggest competition isn’t another console. We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.”

This comment actually sent my mind back to the E3 demos of 2013. If you watched it, you may remember that Microsoft used the space to announce its at-the-time-new Xbox One. During the presentation, the company placed heavy emphasis on TV and movies, making the console more of a media center than a console. And while gamers at the time didn't approve of the direction Microsoft was taking their console, it seems it was just a glimpse into what the company would do with the Xbox brand. Regardless of whether Microsoft manages to pull it off or not, future console flame wars will feel a little emptier without Team Green sounding its warhorn.