Xbox head vows to bring leading games to all Microsoft platforms

Satya Nadella, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., continues to re-appoint executives in an attempt to create an efficient executive team at the software giant. In addition to the new team, we are starting to see changes that Mr. Nadella wants to bring to Microsoft. For example, the new head of Xbox division seems to think about video games beyond the console and across the whole Microsoft.

“I am incredibly proud of the talented Xbox employees around the world and believe, like they do, in the power of technology to bring games and entertainment to life across console, PC, tablet and mobile devices,” said Phil Spencer, the new head of Xbox division, in a statement. “It has been a remarkable year for Xbox and I am honored to lead the team at this incredible time for Microsoft and the games industry.”

It is also noteworthy that Mr. Spencer will report to Terry Myerson, allowing Microsoft to keep gaming close to the group developing operating systems across devices.

Originally, Xbox was clearly considered as a gaming/living room business of Microsoft. Over time, Microsoft introduced various new services, which are available not only on Xbox, but on other platforms as well. For example, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video can be used on a variety of devices. Apparently, that’s not all and going forward the integration of Xbox technologies into other platforms will only continue.

“Combining all our software, gaming and content assets across the Xbox team under a single leader and aligning with the OSG team will help ensure we continue to do great work across the Xbox business, and bring more of the magic of Xbox to all form factors, including tablets, PCs and phones,” said Satya Nadella, the chief exec of Microsoft.

Earlier this year Microsoft executives already implied on renewed focus on video games in general and on video games for PCs in particular, but without elaborating. With the announcement of DirectX 12 for PCs, mobile devices and Xbox One, it looks like Microsoft may unify at least certain games across all of its platforms.

Obviously, exclusive titles for Xbox One will continue to exist, otherwise it will make no sense to make it and buy it. However, it looks like Microsoft wants to make Xbox much like Sony’s PlayStation division, which offers a lot of thing beyond the console for the living room. Moreover, Microsoft clearly needs a better approach to mobile gaming platforms, which are behind not only Apple iOS or Google Android, but to a large degree Sony’s PlayStation Portable/PlayStation Vita.

KitGuru Says: It remains to be seen what exactly will be done by Microsoft and how it will improve video games in general.

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