The following is an OPINION/OBSERVATION. I in no way am trying to insult or hate on Microsoft in this post.
This past week, Satya Nadella became only the third man in the 39 year history of Microsoft to be named it's CEO, succeeding Steve Ballmer, who succeeded company founder Bill Gates. Nadella's role previously was head of the company's cloud computing and enterprise business, a concept that's more prevalent now than it was in years past, as mobile computing has taken the forefront with the increase in availability and advancements in technology of smartphones and tablets. Slowly but surely the computing world is looking past the PC, and this is a fact that Microsoft's key rivals in the market, Apple & Google, have capitalized on, while MS has struggled to keep up with lackluster launches of both the Windows Phone and the Surface tablet.
So where does this involve video games you ask? Well, in a recent article in the Financial Times, it was cited that as far back as Steve Ballmer's tenure as CEO, MS faced repeated calls from investors to "shed consumer businesses such as the XBox game console and Bing search engine, and to focus instead on software for corporate and government customers". That's the department of business in MS that Nadella had headed before getting the CEO nod.
MS is undergoing a dramatic change in its business structure right now, and Nadella himself has echoed Ballmer's efforts to reposition MS around mobile computing and "the cloud", with an eventual emphasis on software and a new cloud based computing platform that would succeed its traditional PC business.
It's important to note that through all of these talks, nothing was mentioned about the future of consumer products and/or hardware being produced by Microsoft aside from mobile devices such as tablets. That's why it's in my opinion that there's the possibility that the Xbox One could possibly be MS's final foray into video gaming. Thanks in part to its lackluster launch and dwindling sales compared to the rival PS4, plus the ongoing presence of Valve and it's Steam Machines and Steam service, if ever there were a time to bow out, this would be it.
Now I'm not saying that they're going to dump the XBone, of course not. Their gaming division and Microsoft Studios are still in place and will ride out its commitment to this current generation of consoles, which stands to be probably the longest in the history of home console gaming, but when the next generation comes along, whatever it may be, it would not surprise me if by that time, with what Microsoft has planned for its business future, that they will announce that they are moving away from video games at very the least.
While other companies are poised to embrace video gaming in the far future, it sounds as if from the top down, Microsoft is eventually going to cut its losses and pull out when the time is right.
This past week, Satya Nadella became only the third man in the 39 year history of Microsoft to be named it's CEO, succeeding Steve Ballmer, who succeeded company founder Bill Gates. Nadella's role previously was head of the company's cloud computing and enterprise business, a concept that's more prevalent now than it was in years past, as mobile computing has taken the forefront with the increase in availability and advancements in technology of smartphones and tablets. Slowly but surely the computing world is looking past the PC, and this is a fact that Microsoft's key rivals in the market, Apple & Google, have capitalized on, while MS has struggled to keep up with lackluster launches of both the Windows Phone and the Surface tablet.
So where does this involve video games you ask? Well, in a recent article in the Financial Times, it was cited that as far back as Steve Ballmer's tenure as CEO, MS faced repeated calls from investors to "shed consumer businesses such as the XBox game console and Bing search engine, and to focus instead on software for corporate and government customers". That's the department of business in MS that Nadella had headed before getting the CEO nod.
MS is undergoing a dramatic change in its business structure right now, and Nadella himself has echoed Ballmer's efforts to reposition MS around mobile computing and "the cloud", with an eventual emphasis on software and a new cloud based computing platform that would succeed its traditional PC business.
It's important to note that through all of these talks, nothing was mentioned about the future of consumer products and/or hardware being produced by Microsoft aside from mobile devices such as tablets. That's why it's in my opinion that there's the possibility that the Xbox One could possibly be MS's final foray into video gaming. Thanks in part to its lackluster launch and dwindling sales compared to the rival PS4, plus the ongoing presence of Valve and it's Steam Machines and Steam service, if ever there were a time to bow out, this would be it.
Now I'm not saying that they're going to dump the XBone, of course not. Their gaming division and Microsoft Studios are still in place and will ride out its commitment to this current generation of consoles, which stands to be probably the longest in the history of home console gaming, but when the next generation comes along, whatever it may be, it would not surprise me if by that time, with what Microsoft has planned for its business future, that they will announce that they are moving away from video games at very the least.
While other companies are poised to embrace video gaming in the far future, it sounds as if from the top down, Microsoft is eventually going to cut its losses and pull out when the time is right.
