In recent months, speculation has run rampant over the possibility that Microsoft – and perhaps even Bill Gates himself – aren’t happy with the performance of the Xbox division. According to CEO Satya Nadella, the truth is quite the opposite.
Microsoft today released a company-wide email to all its employees from Nadella, hinting at some possibly big changes for the company’s future and their core message. Titled “Bold Ambition & Our Core”, the email deals with Nadella’s plans for Microsoft’s focus come FY15, which will largely be on their ‘core’. Tucked away in the email is a section regarding Microsoft’s Xbox division, which Nadella addresses specifically.
While stating that Microsoft creates first-party devices that “light up digital work and life“, he is particularly proud of the Xbox brand, which is ripe with “unique and bold innovation“. He also details the impacts that the Xbox division in particular has had with the rest of Microsoft, and that gaming is “the single biggest digital life category“.
While the email as a whole discusses Microsoft’s refocus on the core of who they are as a company, and some possible changes that may occur as a result, the Xbox brand will remain as it is – focused on games and poised to “vigorously innovate and delight gamers.”
Check out the full transcript of the Xbox-related section below:
“I also want to share some additional thoughts on Xbox and its importance to Microsoft. As a large company, I think it’s critical to define the core, but it’s important to make smart choices on other businesses in which we can have fundamental impact and success. The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming.
We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox. Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base.
We also benefit from many technologies flowing from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts – core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for Windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more. Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft.”
