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There's an air of uncertainty around Xbox at the moment, to put it mildly. Hardware sales are down, iconic series like Halo and Fable are being ported to PlayStation, and earlier this year, we saw longtime face of the brand Phil Spencer step down, with Asha Sharma replacing him.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently spoke about the console, saying the goal now is to make it a steady business again. Nadella was a guest on the Hard Fork podcast for The New York Times, where he commented on what needs to happen for the green-tinted system.
"No one can accuse Microsoft of not having invested for the last 25 years," he says. "And now we have to turn this into a sustainable business."
According to him, Microsoft's been keeping Xbox and the wider game development parts of the business afloat, and the goal is now to monetize the whole venture more. "In fact, there's more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft," he adds.
He goes on to break down Microsoft's challenges here as being on two fronts. The first is the industry-wide rising manufacturing cost associated with shortages in memory and other parts, and the second is the question of what approach Xbox's should take for the foreseeable future. Nadella believes Microsoft can and will weather the first, but the other is a more open-ended predicament.
"We have to find ways to deliver the games in which it's economically relevant for the customer and for us," he said, on what Microsoft's plan is for enticing more people to become Xbox players. There are ongoing reports of restructuring within the games side of the company, as Sharma and Xbox CCO Matt Booty told of an "Xbox reset" in the coming months in an internal memo.
Between the costly acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard and a stagnating user-base, Xbox has lagged behind Sony's PlayStation in recent years. Game Pass isn't moving the needle as hoped, and dwindling exclusives indicates a division in need of some wins. We can only wait and see what's coming for the original home of Master Chief and Marcus Fenix.
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