Microsoft’s financial report for the previous quarter is now out, and… it’s not exactly good news, really.

Xbox is doing okay overall, with 1.6 million units shipped over the three months covered in this period. That number might seem to be low, but it’s lower still- it combines the sales of Xbox 360 and Xbox One. This probably means that, realistically speaking, neither console sold a million units worldwide in this period, which is shockingly poor performance.

“Xbox Platform revenue decreased $306 million or 24%, driven by a 20% decline in console volume and lower prices of Xbox One consoles compared to the prior year. We sold 1.6 million Xbox consoles during the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 compared with 2.0 million consoles during the third quarter of fiscal year 2014,” Microsoft said.

It wasn’t all bad news, however- while the Xbox may be struggling, the Surface line of tablets is finally a hit, thanks to the Surface Pro 3 consistently posting strong numbers. With the recent announcement of the Surface 3, and the strong word of mouth that it is generating, Microsoft should see its performance in that segment of the market go only up.

However, from a gaming perspective, it’s hard to deny that as of right now, they are in a very bad place. Even considering the best case scenario – all consoles sold were Xbox One units – and adding it to Microsoft’s 10 million shipped announcement from last December only brings the Xbox One’s lifetime shipments at 11.6 million units. That is still nowhere close to the 20 million sold that the PS4 had managed as of more than a month ago.

Hopefully, Microsoft is able to turn the tide on this console around, and turn it around soon.

Like a lot of other tech companies, Microsoft has gone ahead and revealed its workforce diversity statistics too, and while the overall outcome is pretty predictable (70% male, 60% white), the overall breakdown is still interesting to consider.

As of September 30, Microsoft’s global staff is 71 percent male and 29 percent female. 60.6 percent of employees are Caucasian, 28.9 percent Asian (this includes Indians), 5.1 percent Hispanic/Latino, 3.5 percent African American/Black, 1.2 percent multi-racial, .5 percent Native American/Alaska Native, and .3 percent Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander. Interestingly enough, since this is the breakdown for the global workforce (remember, Microsoft operates in a multitude of countries throughout the world), the breakdown in specific territories- such as North America, or Europe, for example- may be (and probably is) different.

Microsoft for its part is not happy with what it perceives to be a lack of diversity in the workforce.

“Diversity and inclusion are a business imperative. Diversity needs to be a source of strength and competitive advantage for us,” Microsoft’s head of human resources Lisa Bummel said in an email that you can read on Zdnet.

The Xbox One got a new system update yesterday, and we told you about it then; but it seems like the firmware update added another hidden feature that we didn’t know about, one that everyone’s wanted for a while, and one that’s probably going to make multiplayer gaming sessions that much more fun- yes, you can finally snap Skype while you are playing video games on Xbox One, fulfilling one of the oldest and most obvious promises of the Snap functionality on the console.

This should make playing multiplayer games on the Xbox One a jiffy and feel much more community oriented- along with the fixes to the Friends App and the Party Chat APIs that Microsoft made in an earlier firmware update around the launch of Titanfall in March, this update makes it clear that Microsoft still wants Xbox Live the go to community for all your console multiplayer gaming.

Excited by this update? Let us know in the comments section below.

Certain Xbox One users have hit somewhat of a wall when it comes to uploading videos of gameplay to Upload Studio according to various Xbox One forums, and a host of users on Reddit. According to these forums, gamers are being banned due to instances of profanity in their videos.

Reddit user, MacedonianWolf wrote:

“I made a video and said a bad word (not really a swear in my opinion, but I do understand their displeasure — the nickname of the name Richard) and now I am not able to put Kinect videos on my uploads or upload gameplay at all.”

A Microsoft representative responded to the outcry earlier today, giving an official statement:

“To be clear, the Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement team does not monitor direct peer-to-peer communications like Skype chats and calls. Also, we take Code of Conduct moderation via Upload Studio very seriously. We want a clean, safe and fun environment for all users. Excessive profanity as well as other Code of Conduct violations will be enforced upon and result in suspension of some or all privileges on Xbox Live. We remain committed to preserving and promoting a safe, secure and enjoyable experience for all of our Xbox Live members.”

Via: Polygon

Interestingly, he also reveals that the Entertainment and Devices group – of which the Xbox, Windows Phone and Android are a part of – is profitable, it’s almost entirely due to the royalties garnered from Android. Considering that Microsoft bought Nokia and now directs its Lumia, it will be interesting to see just when it creates a bump in profits for the group.

Meanwhile, Sherlund believes that Microsoft should quit the console race altogether and stands to lose $2.5 billion a year on Xbox, Skype and Windows Phone if Android profits are not factored in. The Xbox One will be releasing on November 22nd, so that seems impossible at this point. Nonetheless, it’ll be a rocky start for an already bleeding Microsoft.

(Source)

The last thing they needed was to be involved with the PRISM scandal that the NSA has been conducting worldwide.

However, general counsel & executive vice president of legal & corporate affairs at Microsoft Brad Smith has sought to clarify several things. He first assured that, “Microsoft does not provide any government with direct and unfettered access to our customer’s data. Microsoft only pulls and then provides the specific data mandated by the relevant legal demand.

“If a government wants customer data – including for national security purposes – it needs to follow applicable legal process, meaning it must serve us with a court order for content or subpoena for account information.

“We only respond to requests for specific accounts and identifiers. There is no blanket or indiscriminate access to Microsoft’s customer data. The aggregate data we have been able to publish shows clearly that only a tiny fraction – fractions of a percent – of our customers have ever been subject to a government demand related to criminal law or national security.”

Smith also stated that, “We have asked the Attorney General of the United States to personally take action to permit Microsoft and other companies to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information.

“We believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with the public, yet the Government is stopping us. For example, Government lawyers have yet to respond to the petition we filed in court on June 19, seeking permission to publish the volume of national security requests we have received. We hope the Attorney General can step in to change this situation.”

How much significance does this hold, considering officials have had no problem perjuring themselves in Congress when asked about whether United States citizens are under surveillance? We’ll soon found out in the coming months, but until then, Microsoft is working to defuse this issue as soon as possible.

In a interesting revelation by The Guardian, Microsoft shared user’s private information with USA’s intelligence agencies. According to the report Microsoft let NSA access Skype’s calls which includes both audio and video, Outlook emails and emails sent via Hotmail.

The intelligence agencies were able to access this data by using government’s secret Prism program which helped them retrieve the data stored on Microsoft’s  SkyDrive cloud service.

This information was then shared to the FBI, CIA and the NSA. Skype surveillance began in February 2011 but at this time only audio could be monitored. Access to video was added in July 2012.

Microsoft responded to The Guardian’s report by stating, “When we upgrade or update products legal obligations may in some circumstances require that we maintain the ability to provide information in response to a law enforcement or national security request. There are aspects of this debate that we wish we were able to discuss more freely. That’s why we’ve argued for additional transparency that would help everyone understand and debate these important issues.”

Shawn Turner, spokesman for the director of National Intelligence, and Judith Emmel, spokeswoman for the NSA further stated: “In practice, US companies put energy, focus and commitment into consistently protecting the privacy of their customers around the world, while meeting their obligations under the laws of the US and other countries in which they operate.””

In 2011 Microsoft had bought Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion and is currently used in many of its devices like Xbox 360 and the upcoming Xbox One.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Via CVG.

He then continued that, “We’re over-delivering value against other choices I think consumers can get. Any modern product these days you look at it [and] $499 isn’t a ridiculous price point. We’re delivering thousands of dollars of value to people, so I think they’re going to love it when they use it.”

Mattrick also believes that consumers will go for the Xbox One due to features like Skype, Kinect, SmartGlass and more. “We’re really making the living room your center of fun for your family.” Like Major Nelson, Mattrick is ignoring that pre-orders for the PlayStation 4 are outstripping supply, and that Sony itself has to adjust its initial forecasts.

The Xbox One is due to release in November with the PlayStation 4 releasing in the Holiday season.

As Microsoft Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi puts it though, “This is a big change, consumers don’t always love change, and there’s a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand.

“We’re trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world. We believe the digital world is the future, and we believe digital is better.”

As for the Xbox One’s approach to content like TV and sports, along with partnerships with the NFL, Skype and other non-gaming entities, Mehdi stated that, “We want to have our offering be differentiated relative to all others,” he said. “It has value that is in so many areas that is not in competing systems… That is a thing that each consumer will choose… and ultimately consumers will decide which is better. It’s a big market.”

But in light of the PS4’s benefits – with none of the detriments – will the market respond in kind?

Source: ArsTechnica

As Polygon noted, during a demonstration of Skype for the Xbox One, it seemed that the player on the receiving end could join in and take over from the other player, while the latter watches. Given how Skype for Xbox One is trying to encourage players to cooperate with each other, it seems like the perfect feature.

However, Microsoft didn’t confirm the same. “In the days since we announced Xbox One there has been a lot of random speculation about various features and potential future scenarios for Xbox One. We look forward to sharing more details at a later date, but aren’t discussing anything further at this time.”

The Xbox One is set to release at the end of 2013.