Bill Gates Would Support Xbox Spin-Off, Microsoft Responds..Nothing to worry about.

[MentalIlness]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/06/bill-gates-would-support-xbox-spin-off-microsoft-responds

Microsoft has responded to comments made by company founder Bill Gates in which he suggested he'd support the decision to spin-off the Xbox business, explaining he was just voicing his support for new CEO Satya Nadella.

In an interview with Fox Business, Gates disputed the notion that spinning off the Xbox business would be "obvious", explaining Microsoft follows a unified gaming strategy.

"We're taking PC gaming and Xbox gaming and bringing those a lot closer together," he said. "The power of the graphics chips means you can do great games there.

"So I'm sure Satya and the team will look at that. It's up to them. We're going to have an overall gaming strategy so it's not as obvious as you might think."

Gates was then asked if he'd support new CEO Satya Nadella if the decision was made to spin-off Xbox, to which he replied "absolutely". While some have taken the quote as evidence Gates believes Microsoft should indeed spin the console gaming division out, the company has now responded to explain Gates was simply voicing his support for the new CEO.

The comments "were reflective of [Gates'] support of Satya as CEO," according to communications chief Frank Shaw, who told Eurogamer that "Microsoft is committed to gaming across multiple platforms with Xbox as the centerpiece of our gaming strategy. We remain committed to Xbox and the millions of Xbox fans around the world."

When Nadella took over as CEO in February, there was significant speculation he'd spin the Xbox business out as he'd previously made comments to that effect. Given the reorganisation of the division under the leadership of Phil Spencer, however, it seems Microsoft is planning to hang onto it, for now at least.

 

[Lil Frier]

It's a little tougher to defend after the terrible P.R. with The Bone, but I'd still say that the Xbox brand is one that Microsoft needs if they want to be a viable consumer option. It's something of a "cool" thing, having a gaming console, and slapping that branding on Windows Phone games (or mobile games in general) is a positive for the company. It's also something of a gateway device, as going with Xbox also led me to get a Zune and Windows Phone, and liking Windows Phone got me to get Windows 8, though I'm just one example.

 

[Arkaign]

You are 'one example' lol. As Zune (which I loved) is dead, and Windows Phone is doing abominably bad (forever doomed to single digits, and it's a net money loser).

Selling off Xbox would actually be better for everyone imho. Xbox wouldn't die, and it could be helmed by leadership not having to answer to a stodgy business corp. PC gaming could get unleashed from forced exclusivity clauses to a greater extent.

Microsoft makes their money from Windows, Office, and Servers. Everything else is either a money loser, or neutral at best. With the XB1 almost certainly headed towards a 2-1 2nd place globally this gen (and even that's being generous), their chances of recouping the ludicrous levels of investment in the Xbox project are slim.

A tighter, more focused Xbox Company could work wonders though. Imagine if they did a Microsoft version of the steambox. A plug and play fixed-spec stripped windows PC with a games store, wireless controllers, 4K support, $399, fall 2018 release. Could rock the socks off of the gaming world, and cross sell to PC gamers who want to play the titles on their PCs (which would be massively dwarfed in the US by people who just wanted to buy the 'console' version). Win/win.

 

[Tweak155]

I keep reading his name as Natalya and thinking of Goldeneye on N64.

 

[mmntech]

You are 'one example' lol. As Zune (which I loved) is dead, and Windows Phone is doing abominably bad (forever doomed to single digits, and it's a net money loser).

Windows Phone supposedly has 5% market share, which is still better than BlackBerry. From my own little bubble though, we still get requests all the time to port our app to BB10. Yet in the monthly reports they put out, I've never seen WP8 mentioned once. We're unlikely to port to either at this point, focusing our limited resources on Android and iOS, because that's where the people are.

Windows Phone 8 and it's companion Windows RT are not a bad platforms. There's just nothing to really distinguish them from the competition. It's less flexible than Android and lacks the luxury brand status of Apple. Not to mention that the hardware often not performance or cost competitive.

The biggest problem though is lack of apps. Since there's no apps, people avoid the platform, and there's no apps because people avoid the platform. It's a vicious circle.

 

[preslove]

Yeah, I've been thinking this for a while.

Though, really, the xbox company would probably fail. What they need to do is create an 'xbox home' that's just a kindle fire that runs on a version of windows 8 instead of Android. But, since it's microsoft, they can make it (and advertize it as) seamless to set up and a part of windows. Put a decent ARM chip in there that can play older titles, make the developers they purchased in their stupid xbox war with sony put out games for xbox home and windows, and advertise the hell out of it. They'd kill the kindle fire and roku in their infancy.

The best part of it is that because it's windows, porting indie pc games that have been for sale on steam would be a piece of cake. They would sell a ton of them because it's from microsoft and an update to windows 7 & 8 would make connecting it to networked computers ridiculously easy.

Also, make it easy to connect wireless keyboards to it, and you can sell the Office app for it.

The console market is not profitable. Microsoft shouldn't be spending tons of money to try to squeeze money out of it. They should use their xbox brand to try to increase awareness of windows RT, as well as try to take over the living room.

 

[Lil Frier]

Windows Phone supposedly has 5% market share, which is still better than BlackBerry. From my own little bubble though, we still get requests all the time to port our app to BB10. Yet in the monthly reports they put out, I've never seen WP8 mentioned once. We're unlikely to port to either at this point, focusing our limited resources on Android and iOS, because that's where the people are.

Windows Phone 8 and it's companion Windows RT are not a bad platforms. There's just nothing to really distinguish them from the competition. It's less flexible than Android and lacks the luxury brand status of Apple. Not to mention that the hardware often not performance or cost competitive.

The biggest problem though is lack of apps. Since there's no apps, people avoid the platform, and there's no apps because people avoid the platform. It's a vicious circle.

Two major things I'd argue here:

1. Windows RT is a terrible OS. The lack of apps is worse on it than with Windows Phone because a tablet is expected to have more functionality than a phone, which I'd argue that a Surface RT really doesn't. The RT devices have 0 point to exist when the Bay Trail stuff is out and running everything RT has, plus legacy stuff. Why the heck would I go spend $400 on a Surface RT and another $130 on the keyboard cover when an Intel-based ASUS T100 is $400 WITH a USB 3.0 keyboard dock?

2. How is the Windows Phone hardware not competitive? I got my Lumia 920 about 6 months after the Galaxy S III came out. All of the internals were exactly the same, as far as the SoC goes. It then had wireless charging, 32 GB of internal storage (though no SD slot), a higher-resolution IPS display, and really nice camera tech (for a phone). I got the 920 for $50 on-contract, and it came with a $50 wireless charger for free. My brother-in-law got his Galaxy S III for 3 times that a few months earlier.

The upcoming 930 (as well as the current 1520) run the Snapdragon 800, which is just a slightly-slower (I think 200 MHz or so) version of what the Android competition carries. Windows Phone also doesn't carry bloatware like Android, and it does a decent job of keeping apps from running wild in the background, so in all of my personal experiences, Windows Phone has felt like a smoother experience overall. Regardless of biased opinions, the point I was trying to make is that the Windows Phone devices certainly have comparable hardware to Android, and never cost MORE than the Android counterparts, while often actually being cheaper.

None of that is to defend the negatives. There's only one app (Trillian) that I feel like I am missing out on with Windows Phone, but I'm not that annoyed in not having it, because I didn't use it a whole lot when I was on Android. There needs to be a major closing of the gap between the competition on the app front, but they can only throw so much money and time into courting developers who just don't care.

 

[Lil Frier]

Yeah, I've been thinking this for a while.

Though, really, the xbox company would probably fail. What they need to do is create an 'xbox home' that's just a kindle fire that runs on a version of windows 8 instead of Android. But, since it's microsoft, they can make it (and advertize it as) seamless to set up and a part of windows. Put a decent ARM chip in there that can play older titles, make the developers they purchased in their stupid xbox war with sony put out games for xbox home and windows, and advertise the hell out of it. They'd kill the kindle fire and roku in their infancy.

The best part of it is that because it's windows, porting indie pc games that have been for sale on steam would be a piece of cake. They would sell a ton of them because it's from microsoft and an update to windows 7 & 8 would make connecting it to networked computers ridiculously easy.

Also, make it easy to connect wireless keyboards to it, and you can sell the Office app for it.

The console market is not profitable. Microsoft shouldn't be spending tons of money to try to squeeze money out of it. They should use their xbox brand to try to increase awareness of windows RT, as well as try to take over the living room.

They could opt to sell Xbox, then just become a PC publisher. That would be something of a funny way to screw the buying company, I guess. Sell them the hardware, not the software, then start producing Windows Boxes, which would just be Windows-based Steam Boxes. Put Halo and Gears and Forza on Windows, and turn the HTPC market into a gaming market. It would actually make decent use of the Windows 8 start screen, since it would be pretty easy to navigate with a controller.

 

[preslove]

They could opt to sell Xbox, then just become a PC publisher. That would be something of a funny way to screw the buying company, I guess. Sell them the hardware, not the software, then start producing Windows Boxes, which would just be Windows-based Steam Boxes. Put Halo and Gears and Forza on Windows, and turn the HTPC market into a gaming market. It would actually make decent use of the Windows 8 start screen, since it would be pretty easy to navigate with a controller.

Thing is, who would buy xbox? It's never made money and probably won't this gen, either.

Better to keep the xone going to recoup as much money as they can, then keep the brand for their htpc/kindle fire, so that people know it can game, too.

 

[smackababy]

Thing is, who would buy xbox? It's never made money and probably won't this gen, either.

Better to keep the xone going to recoup as much money as they can, then keep the brand for their htpc/kindle fire, so that people know it can game, too.

Except, the Xbox 360 generation made money. It just didn't look like it, because the Xbox generation lost so much. And I hardly doubt the Xbox One isn't making money.

 

[railven]

Except, the Xbox 360 generation made money. It just didn't look like it, because the Xbox generation lost so much. And I hardly doubt the Xbox One isn't making money.

Well, I don't think these guys go into with that kind of perspective "we lost like 3 Billon on Xbox1, then and other 4 Billion with X360, but at least we made 300 million on the end of the generation!"

The CE Division has been an anchor around Microsoft's neck. Without their software/office/server side to keep it afloat.

Last I read the whole Xbox adventure is still like negative 4billion. There is no way in hell they'll ever recover that let alone R&D from Xbone.

They're selling each unit at a loss, discounting each unit since March, giving away free games with each unit. XBL subs are down, 360 sales are down...

 

[railven]

I said it in another forum I frequent - why aren't they checking into streaming? With 3 platforms if they want a good app for the gaming crowd, active streaming!

Got a decent Windows based phone, download this app! Stream your games from your PC to your phone and use a BT controller (we even sell one [of course they'd have to make one]) and play on the go using your phone's HDMI out!

Got a Xbone and Windows PC? Stream your PC games to your XBone or Xbone games to your PC! (First of all why did they remove extender to begin with?)

Got a good windows based phone and Xbone? Forget PS Vita, stream your games to your phone and use this nifty BT controller with nifty cradle attachment (sold separately) and remote play your console!

 

[Lil Frier]

All of this has been asked about for years. Streaming has already been rumored, but only from a backwards-compatibility point of view. I've been saying since I got a Windows Phone in 2012 that they need to gut an Xbox controller (360 back then, One now), give it Bluetooth, and have the thing supported on Windows Phone. They need to actually embed the functionality at the OS level, so developers can't opt to not have the controller work with their games though. If the complicated Xbox certification process taught them anything, it's that they can't rely on developers to WANT to do extra work.

As for streaming to/from the console and PC, it's a silly idea. What they need is a Windows Xbox Store or something, and have single-purchase licenses for games across Xbox and Windows. Combat Steam and Sony that way, by properly unifying your platforms. Add in online saves, and the idea of streaming takes care of itself, as long as the PC is decent enough to run a game. The only danger there is trying to sort out online multiplayer, which becomes a nightmare when you start mixing controllers with a mouse+keyboard crowd.

 

[smackababy]

Well, I don't think these guys go into with that kind of perspective "we lost like 3 Billon on Xbox1, then and other 4 Billion with X360, but at least we made 300 million on the end of the generation!"

The CE Division has been an anchor around Microsoft's neck. Without their software/office/server side to keep it afloat.

Last I read the whole Xbox adventure is still like negative 4billion. There is no way in hell they'll ever recover that let alone R&D from Xbone.

They're selling each unit at a loss, discounting each unit since March, giving away free games with each unit. XBL subs are down, 360 sales are down...

All data I can find is that the Xbox 360 along made money. The entire division was put off by the massive losses of the Xbox though.

Spinning off wouldn't be a bad idea, especially because it would likely happen when they start R&D for the Xbox One successor. But, that removes MS from the living room equation. And even with the loses, it isn't exactly hurting MS. They are still massively profitable.

 

[JujuFish]

That's funny, because I can't find any data that the 360 made money overall. In fact, last year, an analyst speculated that Microsoft was losing billions a year on their gaming division.

 

[preslove]

Xbox was pulling in a profit towards the end of the 360's product life, but it still is a net loss. We'll see how well they're doing when this quarters numbers come out, given that the x-one has been heavily discounted to push sales.