Microsoft's New Strategy For Xbox Is To Be Like Office

A lot has been said about Microsoft’s new strategy for Xbox. While Phil Spencer and gang have been pushing the ‘Everything is an Xbox’ approach, fans, rivals, and even former employees think it isn’t the right way forward. There were even questions about Xbox’s commitment to console gaming, which had to be cleared up by the company.

After the massively expensive ROG Xbox Ally and the price hike for Game Pass, it’s anyone’s guess what the company has in store for the long run. In an attempt to make things clear, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke out about the approach, saying Xbox wants to be a publisher that’s present on every platform, like Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Wants Xbox To Be Everywhere

Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.

Speaking with TBPM (via Game File), Nadella gave us an understanding of how the top brass wants Xbox’s approach to evolve in the coming years. “We want to be a fantastic publisher, similar to the approach of what we did with Office,” he said. “We’re going to be everywhere, on every platform. We want to make sure, whether it’s consoles, whether it’s the PC, whether it’s mobile, whether it’s cloud gaming, or the TV, so we just want to make sure the games are being enjoyed by gamers everywhere.”

He continued the conversation saying that Xbox not only wants to innovate in the console market, but PC gaming as well. While both are important, Nadella stressed that consoles are what drive the industry and push the envelope in terms of innovation. However, the company is also looking ahead at new forms of media as well.

The then touched on a sentiment that Xbox game content and studios president, Matt Booty also did, which is that their competition isn’t other gaming companies like Sony, but short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Comparing a gaming business to that of an office tool is a wild swing, even for Microsoft. While Word, Excel, and the lot come pre-built into PCs and are mandatory in most office settings, gaming software is a luxury item that not everyone wants or necessarily needs to interact with.