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Nadella: Microsoft “Investing Aggressively” in Gaming Content, Community, and Cloud Services

Theorry

Theorry

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Oct 27, 2017
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During Microsoft's quarterly financial conference call for investors and analysts, Chief Operating Officer Satya Nadella and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood talked about the current situation of the Xbox business.

Nadella underlined that this fiscal year Microsoft's gaming business passed ten billion dollars in revenue for the first time, and mentioned that the company is aggressively investing in content, community, and cloud services for games.

"In gaming, we're pursuing our expansive opportunity from the way games are created and distributed, to how they're played and viewed, surpassing ten billion revenue this year for the first time. We're investing aggressively in content, community, and cloud services across every end-point to expand usage and deepen engagement with gamers.

The combination of Xbox Live Game Pass subscription and Mixer are driving record levels of growth and engagement."
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Nadella also commented on requent acquisitions.

"PlayFab accelerates our vision to build a world-class cloud platform for the gaming industry across mobile, PC, and console. The addition of five new gaming studios bolsters our first-party content development to support our fast-growing gaming services."

Hood talked about the outlook for the gaming business in the current fiscal quarter (between July 1st and September 30th, 2019). Microsoft expects revenue growth around 15%.

"In gaming, we expect mid-teens revenue growth, with continued strong user engagement on our platforms. The software and services growth rate will moderate due to a strong third-party title launch a year ago."
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https://www.dualshockers.com/microsoft-investing-gaming/
 
oni-link

oni-link

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Oct 25, 2017
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Good, the industry is better when Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have strong first party line ups
 
Heckler456

Heckler456

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That's great. Keeps the rest on their toes too, not to mention that it gives me a reason to buy into Microsoft's catalogue too.
 
christocolus

christocolus

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Oct 27, 2017
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"Investing Aggressively".....Great. I've been saying this. Next gen is going to be amazing. I expect MS to go all out on not just hardware and 1st party output but also community and gaming services. They've already done so much i.e Xbox live, encouraging services like Ea access, game preview, game pass, gifting and refunds, mixer, amazing BC support, game enhancements/ features , elite controller/ adaptive controller, Xbox one S and X and much more.
 
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Shark

Shark

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Oct 28, 2017
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It's very clear this is the case. Will be really interesting to see how much consumers embrace streaming and these different distribution subscriptions next gen. I'm excited about the possibilities.
 
VallenValiant

VallenValiant

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Oct 27, 2017
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Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
 

Deleted member 4372

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Awesome. I will definitely be getting an X eventually, at launch for Halo Infinite if not before.
 
christocolus

christocolus

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14,932
VallenValiant said:
Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
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Liars? Lol. What is this? You mean a service similar to what Sony currently has "PSnow"
 
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Pancakes R Us

Pancakes R Us

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Oct 27, 2017
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Reassuring words. Here's to hoping for a successful next gen for them and more forward-facing, but consumer-friendly, initiatives from them in the future.
 
Xx 720

Xx 720

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Nov 3, 2017
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I wonder what they will have next e3. I assume Sony and MS last wave of games will be cross gen..
 
Jiraiya

Jiraiya

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Oct 27, 2017
10,279
VallenValiant said:
Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
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Right. If they want streaming to take off Microsoft really needs to figure out how to let me stream offline. A streaming console that needs online is a no go.
 
THEVOID

THEVOID

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I mean obviously. It's raking in money and growth. As a business you tend to invest into sectors that are growing.
 
OG_Thrills

OG_Thrills

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"The combination of Xbox Live Game Pass subscription and Mixer are driving record levels of growth and engagement."

So Mixer is also included in their XBOX engagement numbers? That's an interesting caveat if true.
 
matrix-cat

matrix-cat

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Oct 27, 2017
10,284
Yeah boyee, I want to see 360-era Microsoft back in the game. I'm probably going to end up skipping the XB1 entirely, but I'll be there day one if all these deals they're making right now bear fruit in time for the next Xbox.
 
VallenValiant

VallenValiant

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Oct 27, 2017
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Jiraiya said:
Right. If they want streaming to take off Microsoft really needs to figure out how to let me stream offline. A streaming console that needs online is a no go.
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You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.

What exactly is MS going to do that is so different, that Sony isn't already doing? PSNow is ignored so much, that news media basically pretend it doesn't exist.

If game streaming is truly the next big thing, I would have thought that gaming news would mention PSNow more frequently. Or is it only important if Microsoft does it?
 
Xx 720

Xx 720

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Nov 3, 2017
3,920
VallenValiant said:
You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.

What exactly is MS going to do that is so different, that Sony isn't already doing? PSNow is ignored so much, that news media basically pretend it doesn't exist.

If game streaming is truly the next big thing, I would have thought that gaming news would mention PSNow more frequently. Or is it only important if Microsoft does it?
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Who exactly do you think gives a shit about streaming? No one gives a shit about ps now, not because it's Sony, it's because streaming sucks.
 
Jiraiya

Jiraiya

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Oct 27, 2017
10,279
VallenValiant said:
You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.

What exactly is MS going to do that is so different, that Sony isn't already doing? PSNow is ignored so much, that news media basically pretend it doesn't exist.

If game streaming is truly the next big thing, I would have thought that gaming news would mention PSNow more frequently. Or is it only important if Microsoft does it?
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Irrelevant. There are no indications Microsoft is moving away from what we have today.
 
Klobrille

Klobrille

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Xx 720 said:
Who exactly do you think gives a shit about streaming? No one gives a shit about ps now, not because it's Sony, it's because streaming sucks.
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It's mostly because PS Now basically includes older games.

While native gaming obviously will always have an edge, Microsoft has the resources and datacenter with Azure to actually create a streaming service that could be very successful - if they allow new games to launch there.
 
SmartWaffles

SmartWaffles

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Nov 15, 2017
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OG_Thrills said:
"The combination of Xbox Live Game Pass subscription and Mixer are driving record levels of growth and engagement."

So Mixer is also included in their XBOX engagement numbers? That's an interesting caveat if true.
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Mixer is heavily integrated into the Xbox OS, which I also believe powers their "share controller" feature which is basically SharePlay.
 
M4xim1l1ano

M4xim1l1ano

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Oct 29, 2017
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VallenValiant said:
You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.
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Where does it say that MS will go streaming only? If anything it has sounded that it will be an option besides an Xbox hardware.
 
TheTruthofKayle

TheTruthofKayle

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Nov 12, 2017
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VallenValiant said:
You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.

What exactly is MS going to do that is so different, that Sony isn't already doing? PSNow is ignored so much, that news media basically pretend it doesn't exist.

If game streaming is truly the next big thing, I would have thought that gaming news would mention PSNow more frequently. Or is it only important if Microsoft does it?
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Did you hear Phil Spencer interviews ? Local computing is not going anywhere ...stop it
 
Bugalugs214

Bugalugs214

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Nov 26, 2017
1,686
VallenValiant said:
Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
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And they would've gotten away with it again if it wasn't for you dam kids!!!1!!!

Ps downloading games from gamepass isnt streaming... try harder?
 
Soap

Soap

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Oct 27, 2017
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I really struggle to care about the cloud for gaming purposes outside of saves. MS have been banging on about how the cloud will enhance games since crackdown 3 got revealed... A game that still isn;t out and has probably been rebooted more than once.
 

Deleted member 2254

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VallenValiant said:
Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
Click to expand...
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Embarassing post.

Back to the thread, Microsoft is doing a lot of work for backwards and forward compatibility, allowing your apps to be played on multiple devices, streaming to allow you to play on less meaty devices, get easy access to games with services like Game Pass... an interesting future for sure, looking forward to see where it'll go.
 
Windu

Windu

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Oct 25, 2017
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VallenValiant said:
Streaming is basically Microsoft's plan B for always-online console gaming. If you don't even own the hardware, then you would be forced to be online.

Microsft's plans are pretty transparent. They were never very good liars.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
dedicated hardware isn't going away buddy. Not sure how many times people have to be told this. You can still buy DVDs etc.. in the world of Netflix. Gaming will be the same.

Here it is straight from the horses mouth:

 
Ge0force

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Very good. Microsoft should keep improving their stuff and keep listening to their (potential) customers, and their gaming business will only keep growing. Healthy competition benefits us all.
 
Peckmore

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Oct 31, 2017
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OG_Thrills said:
"The combination of Xbox Live Game Pass subscription and Mixer are driving record levels of growth and engagement."

So Mixer is also included in their XBOX engagement numbers? That's an interesting caveat if true.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't think that is talking about engagement numbers, as Game Pass isn't counted in the numbers either - it's the Xbox Live account you need to be able to use (or not) Game Pass that gets counted.

I think it just means that Game Pass and Mixer are driving people either towards Xbox (growth), or towards spending more hours on their Xbox (engagement).
 
OP
OP
Theorry

Theorry

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Oct 27, 2017
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Soap said:
I really struggle to care about the cloud for gaming purposes outside of saves. MS have been banging on about how the cloud will enhance games since crackdown 3 got revealed... A game that still isn;t out and has probably been rebooted more than once.
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You are already using the cloud in many games you play. ;)
Cloud is just one word for alot of things.
 

Panic Freak

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Oct 26, 2017
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VallenValiant said:
You joke, but the point is that the issues of streaming is even worse than always online for consoles.

Frankly I am not against streaming. But just like gaming on a phone, I consider it an inferior experience. MS is free to go all in on game streaming if they want, though of course one had to constantly remind people that Sony already got game streaming.

What exactly is MS going to do that is so different, that Sony isn't already doing? PSNow is ignored so much, that news media basically pretend it doesn't exist.

If game streaming is truly the next big thing, I would have thought that gaming news would mention PSNow more frequently. Or is it only important if Microsoft does it?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Microsoft wants to be where the gamer is. Console, mobile, streaming and PC.

Having one doesn't rule out all others.
 
zedox

zedox

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Yea... $10bn...they are definitely going to invest there especially since it's growing.
 

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Exactly what I like to hear! I honestly would have been happy with Xbox just getting more first party studios, but Microsoft has definitely gone all in. I've always felt that they do a good job with pushing new concepts forward, so I can't wait to see what their game streaming initiative looks like.
 
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