People love to speculate about the overall profitability of the Xbox business for Microsoft- but it sounds like it is doing well enough for Microsoft to want to keep it around. Speaking at Microsoft’s financial conference call for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, ended on June 30th, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella praised the state of the Xbox business, and discussed the strategic opportunities that it opens for Microsoft.
“Our gaming business now is more than nine billion dollars and growing profitably. The gaming world is growing faster than ever before from gameplay across multiple devices, to the explosive growth in streaming and esports, to new subscription services and mixed reality scenarios,” he said.
“We’re uniquely positioned to capture a large share of this opportunity because of our ability to unite the global community of gamers through Xbox Live – now 53 million-strong, and growing – and to enable new experiences across PC, consoles and mobile.”
Nadella also discussed the Xbox One X, and what it means for Microsoft. “Our approach is to let gamers play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they want,” he said. “At E3 we celebrated the passion of gamers by introducing Xbox One X, broadening our portfolio of gaming devices with the world’s most powerful console.”
The Xbox One X is due out later this year, on November 7. And while I am sure that Microsoft is doing well and making money, I do want to raise the question of just how viable the Xbox business will continue to be in the long term if Microsoft does not double down on its investment in actual compelling games that can solidify the appeal and identity of their brand on an ongoing basis.