Xbox users on Tuesday afternoon were surprised by their phones buzzing uncontrollably with some bizarre test notifications. The spam messages that read like some internal developer note sparked outrage across social media platforms. In hours, “Goodbye Xbox” started to trend as frustrated gamers flooded X with their complaints. However, what started like some technical mishap took an unexpected turn. Many users are now even blaming the newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, for the fiasco. So, in short, the timing could not have been more awkward.
Gamers roast CEO Asha Sharma after the recent spam glitch
The Xbox app glitch hit on February 25, around 12:30 p.m. ET. During it, gamers received repeated notifications, stating, “This is a dummy test message sent via braze. Please capture a screenshot once you receive it. This should take you to the recently added gallery.” The users have reported receiving dozens of alerts in just minutes, with a few showing artwork from Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, attached to those messages.
As complaints started to pile up, the social media users were quick to connect this technical failure with the leadership shakeup that happened last week. Microsoft Gaming’s longtime CEO Phil Spencer announced retirement. Xbox President Sarah Bond even stepped down for becoming special advisor for Asha Sharma. This timing has proved just perfect for an internet mockery now.
An X user posted, “New Xbox Head Asha Sharma: yo team, what does this button do The button:’ alongside the spam notifications screenshot.
Another user joked, “Wish I could see the @Xbox dev’s face when they realize these notifications aren’t going to the test environment💀💀💀💀”
The worst was that the criticism did not stop there. Another user questioned, “Xbox accidentally spammed customers… how is this even possible??”
Meanwhile, one of them sarcastically referenced the recent appointment of Sharma, stating, “New Indian CEO in charge for twelve seconds and…”
This frustration started to escalate as a user dramatically declared, “goodbye xbox, it was nice knowing you.” This hashtag which clearly is symbolic to “it’s Xboxover” started to gain traction with more users sharing their annoyance. Some community members even tried to calm the nerves, explaining that this was likely just backend testing and not some security breach.
How did Xbox respond to it all?
Xbox eventually chose to respond on X regarding all these spam messages received by the gamers. In the post made, Xbox wrote, “The Xbox App got a little too enthusiastic with test notifications today. That’s on us, but it’s resolved now. Thanks for understanding, and we apologize for flooding your notifications.”
The company then confirmed that engineers have identified this issue. As per them, the developers accidentally targeted the live users, instead of the testers, as they were working with Braze—the AI-powered customer engagement platform which Microsoft uses for messaging campaigns.
Microsoft has also assured its users that all of it was just technical. It was not some security incident. One of the Xbox spokespersons even confirmed that the engineers are working on preventing such future occurrences. However, for the gamers who are already nervous as Asha Sharma takes over Xbox Gaming and the brand’s direction, such a massive notification spam incident could not have come at a worse moment.
So, what went wrong and who is to blame for it?
The technical explanation behind the notification nightmare of Tuesday is simpler than many of the frustrated users might expect. Braze, the platform that is behind all these spam messages, is the customer engagement and audience management tool used by companies to create and test, to deliver targeted messaging campaigns. It offers quality assurance services. It allows internal teams to test the notifications, even before the same reaches actual users.
However, someone forgot to apparently flip the right switch. The internal test messages that were intended for controlling the environment accidentally went live. It reached millions of phones with the installed Xbox application. A Reddit user even explained it just perfectly, saying someone pushed the test to the Prod and the entire app got broken.
Another observer reassured the concerned gamers, saying that it doesn’t mean anything at all. The user further added that it does not mean that their account got hacked or targeted. It is likely that it was some backend testing error that slipped through.
This mishap, as believed, comes at quite a turbulent time for the Xbox leadership. The departure of Phil Spencer after years at the helm is an end or era. The transition of Sarah Bond to being an advisor for Asha Sharma also brings too much spotlight. It is because Sharma brings in her AI-focused background to the top job at gaming. So, this makes the AI-related notification glitch of Tuesday quite an ironic one.
Some users even found humor within this situation, while others appreciated the quicker acknowledgement coming in from Xbox, which posted, “When we said ‘testing,’ we didn’t mean that much testing. Xbox App notifications are resolved now, thanks for understanding.”
Now, whether all of this becomes some minor footnote or a start of some greater concerns about the leadership of Sharma is to be seen. Currently, the Xbox users can safely re-enable their notifications; after all, the spam storm seems to have passed. However, the memes assuredly are going to stick around for a little while longer.
