Microsoft is making a resounding statement: it’s fully committed to video games. The company’s recent moves show just how serious it is about catering to gamers and their hodgepodge of needs, as exemplified by its latest acquisition.
In a recent interview with MSN, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was asked about the importance of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Microsoft exec explained that the company has always seen gaming as one of its core divisions going back to the early days – which is probably an exaggeration and not exactly accurate of the 1970’s, but hey.
That said, things change and Microsoft has definitely been placing emphasis on gaming for a good while at least. Now that Activision Blizzard is in the fold, the tech giant wants to double down on its efforts as a video game producer and publisher.
“For us, there are a few things that go all the way back for us as a company. Gaming is one, right? When I think about Microsoft, I think of perhaps developer tools, proprietary software, and gaming. Those are three things that we’ve done from the very beginning.”
Nadella added, “And so, to us, gaming is the one place where we think we have a real contribution to make in consumer markets.”
Microsoft has been a long-time producer of video games dating back to the early days of personal computers. One of its longest-running video game franchises is Microsoft Flight Simulator which was first published in 1982.
Other notable games from the software maker on the Windows platform are Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Age of Empires. The company has also been in the console manufacturing business since 2001 with the Xbox.
Nadella explained that games are becoming more popular with each passing generation and its acquisition of Activision Blizzard gives the company a strong position to cater to the demands of players.
“If I look at it, the amount of time people allocate to gaming is going up and Gen Z is going to do more of that,” Nadella said. “The way games are made, the way the games are delivered, is changing radically. Whether it’s mobile, or consoles, or PCs, or even the cloud.”
He continued, “So, we’re looking forward to really doubling down both as a game producer and a publisher. Now we’ll be one of the largest game publishers and also as a company that’s building platforms for it.”‘
Microsoft is currently the second-largest game publisher following its merger with Activision Blizzard. The company also plans to expand further to the mobile gaming market and establish a mobile games store for its titles. The tech giant is also now a major player as a games subscription service provider and in the cloud gaming scene.
So, what does this mean for gamers? Hopefully, it will mean bigger and better games from Microsoft and its subsidiaries. The software maker also promised to make games more accessible to more people, which will be good for the future of the industry. Microsoft’s plans will hopefully light a fire under other publishers like Sony and Nintendo to keep up with the pace set by the tech giant.
Let’s just hope that they also plan to pay game devs living wages among all these grand schemes.
