After the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, 2024 marks an important year for Xbox, in which the North American team has started to release their big projects of this new stage, starting with the highly anticipated Hellblade 2. However, this new phase has also brought the release of several Xbox Game Studios games in other ecosystems, sparking discussions beyond the economic benefit for Microsoft’s coffers. For Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, their strategy has not changed and remains focused on bringing their games to the largest possible number of players and to “new platforms”.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Nadella highlighted the importance of expanding the reach of Xbox through “Project Latitude“, a strategic effort to offer the brand’s games on various devices, including rival ecosystems like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. “We want to bring great games to more people,” stated the executive, emphasizing the relevance of this openness for the video games division of the North American company.
As part of this strategy, Microsoft has for the first time brought some of players’ favorite titles to Nintendo and Sony consoles, solidifying their vision of allowing players to enjoy their titles wherever and however they want. In fact, the most prominent was Sea of Thieves, a significant project for the American company that became the best-selling digital game in Europe in May and the third in the United States during the same month. It is no wonder that Nadella concluded his intervention, at least regarding the video games division, affirming that they are continuing to “expand our content to new platforms“.
On the other hand, although these are rumors not backed by reliable sources, it has been mentioned that Xbox could have halted the development of versions of their games for other platforms, thus spacing out their release. The company is now more cautious when announcing titles simultaneously for other platforms, especially after the reaction generated by the announcement of Indiana Jones for PlayStation 5, although there has been no official statement from Nadella or the Xbox leadership regarding this.
Microsoft CEO is very excited about Activision Blizzard IPs
The recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard King has strengthened Microsoft’s ecosystem, adding “hundreds of millions of players” to their platform and bringing in renowned franchises such as Candy Crush, Diablo, and Call of Duty. According to Nadella, this operation also ensures access to over 20 franchises that have generated significant revenue throughout their history. This allows Microsoft to strengthen its position in the market and provide a diverse gaming experience to its users.
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