Xbox remains committed to “bringing great games to more people on more devices”, and plans to “extend” its strategy to bring its most notable franchises to other platforms like PS5 and Nintendo Switch.
In a statement posted to LinkedIn, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it was “a consequential time for our company, our industry, and the world”, and that “ultimately, [Microsoft’s] mission requires that [it] translate technology into empowerment for everyone”.
“We are bringing great games to more people on more devices. With our acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, which closed October 2023, we’ve added hundreds of millions of players to our ecosystem,” Nadella said.
Interestingly, the CEO also confirmed the company held publishing rights to 20 game franchises that “have generated over $1bn in lifetime revenue”, and listed six of them. Whilst the recently acquired Call of Duty series is clearly one of them, it was curiously absent from Nadella’s list.
“We now have 20 franchises that have generated over $1 billion in lifetime revenue – from Candy Crush, Diablo, and Halo, to Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Gears of War. And with Xbox cloud gaming, we continue to innovate to offer players more ways to experience the games they love – where, when, and how they want.
“Finally, we brought four of our fan-favourite titles to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation for the first time, as we continue to extend our content to new platforms.”
Yesterday we reported that Microsoft boss Nadella will earn a wallet-busting $79.1m (£60.9m) this financial year, up 63 percent on his compensation for 2023.
The huge boost to Nadella’s pay in both cash and stock, announced by Microsoft earlier this week, comes after a positive year overall for the company’s financial revenues – but a turbulent 12 months for its employees. 2024 has seen two mass layoffs at Microsoft, with 1900 staff laid off in January, before a further 650 Xbox employees were shown the door in September.