The stock of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) closed at $84.47 gaining 0.39% in yesterday’s trading session. The new Xbox console is already in the market and the focus of the company’s video game unit is slowly moving towards software and services.
Microsoft intends to boost its investment in developing in-house video games. It is eyeing the acquisition or the set up of studios and that is according to the Xbox chief Phil Spencer during his most recent interview.
Business challenges are part and parcel of any successful business according to the top official. He was quick to make reference to those instances when Microsoft shuttered videos, came face to face with immense criticism at the industry conference from gamers for its lack of hot first-party titles as well as the cancelation of games. The company has a great growth potential and the management looks forward to doing that.
Spencer opined, “Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths. We haven’t always invested at the same level. We’ve gone through ups and downs in the investment.”
It was last Tuesday that Microsoft kick off the sale of its Xbox One X which happens to be a high-end console targeted at hard-core gamers.
Games such as “Gears of War” and “Halo” are some of the company’s biggest sellers for Xbox.
Microsoft has in the recent years scaled back some in-house development as was disclosed by Spencer who happens to be a 30-year Microsoft veteran. It is one year down the line since the company proceeded to shut down two of its studious, Press Play in Denmark and Lionhead in the U.K.
Analysts take the strong stand that the renewed investment indicates an increased focus on the Xbox business as a whole. It was a few years ago when the company considered the unit as a sideline. It was in September that Spencer got promoted to report directly to Satya Nadella who is Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer.
Nadella believes that it is high time the company rethinks its way of measuring progress.