What you need to know
- Per emails received by Windows Central, confirmed by Microsoft as genuine, Xbox President Sarah Bond recently briefed her team on various topics.
- In the emails, Sarah Bond reiterated Microsoft's plans to build new Xbox hardware focused on delivering "the biggest technical leap ever in a generation."
- Sarah Bond also revealed that Microsoft has set up a dedicated team to future-proof our digital Xbox game libraries across future hardware paradigms to further "build on [Xbox's] strong history of delivering backward compatibility."
- Additionally, it was revealed that Xbox has become Diablo 4's most prominent platform since the game's inclusion into Xbox Game Pass.
Sarah Bond was promoted to Xbox President a few short months ago and kickstarted something of a reorganization to streamline Microsoft's gaming org to position itself for the future. With Activision-Blizzard now acquired, Xbox has become something of a gaming powerhouse, with huge platforms across Xbox console and cloud, PC gaming, mobile titles, and subscription services. Even when you disregard the millions of Xbox Game Pass subscribers, Microsoft counts various other subscription service gaming businesses within that fold, from Fallout 1st to Minecraft Realms and World of Warcraft.
The complexity of the Xbox business is doubtless a huge challenge, but there are similarly huge opportunities ahead of the firm. To that end, Sarah Bond recently sent out an email to rally her troops, while also sharing some interesting bits of news in the process. Microsoft has confirmed to us that the correspondence is genuine.
"It’s been nearly six months since we came together as an organization. Our collective achievements in that timeframe are tremendous. Everyone should feel incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and excited about the opportunities ahead," Sarah said, "We are moving full speed ahead on our next generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation."
Sarah also touched upon Microsoft's innovations in gaming AI, understood to be a big part of Microsoft's vision for the future of Xbox. We were recently told that departing XEmTech lead and AI innovator Kareem Choudhry was known within the org for putting players and developers first. It seems that influence will continue driving Microsoft's thought processes on the tech, "We are innovating in Gaming AI, focused on delivering player-first, developer-first value for discovery, engagement, and creator velocity."
Further in, Sarah describes how Microsoft is continuing its work to integrate Activision-Blizzard games and Battle.net into Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. Microsoft brought Diablo 4 to Xbox Game Pass a short while ago in collaboration with the Microsoft Store platform team on the Windows side. Bond revealed that due to Diablo hitting Game Pass, Xbox has now become the #1 platform for the game. "We are integrating Activision Blizzard King titles into our services — we launched Diablo IV into Game Pass, and Xbox has quickly become the #1 platform for D4 players," Bond reiterated some of the other games on the horizon for Xbox, "we are integrating with Battle.net, all while launching CoD: Warzone Mobile and preparing for the upcoming Hellblade II, Avowed, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle."
Xbox builds a new team for game preservation, and the future
Recently, the preservation of games has become an increasing concern, as the shift to digital licensing models and online services has made it too easy for games to go permanently off-line. It's a massive problem in mobile gaming, where publishers and companies like Apple and Google have no problem wiping games from existence. Even core platforms like Nintendo are known to shut down stores, off-lining many games. Microsoft is closing parts of the Xbox 360 store this year for new purchases. However, hundreds of the most popular Xbox backward-compatible games escaped the Xbox 360 and continue to live on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S platforms. It seems that now, they'll live on even further.
As part of the emails to her team, Sarah Bond revealed that Microsoft has now set up a dedicated team to ensure the future-proofing of the current Xbox game library against future hardware paradigm shifts, ensuring that our games remain accessible long into the future. "We have formed a new team dedicated to game preservation, important to all of us at Xbox and the industry itself," Bond said. "We are building on our strong history of delivering backwards compatibility to our players, and we remain committed to bringing forward the amazing library of Xbox games for future generations of players to enjoy."
We have formed a new team dedicated to game preservation, important to all of us at Xbox and the industry itself. We are building on our strong history of delivering backwards compatibility to our players, and we remain committed to bringing forward the amazing library of Xbox games for future generations of players to enjoy.
Sources tell us that Microsoft may have more to share publicly in this area around the annual Xbox Showcase, which is expected to take place on June 9th, 2024 (per The Verge).
Sarah Bond also paid tribute to Kareem Choudhry, who is retiring from Microsoft after 26 years at the firm. "Earlier this week, at the goodbye party for Kareem Choudhry, a longtime leader in Xbox, we shared stories about the obstacles we've overcome and the incredible things this team has done," Sarah continued, "As I was listening to those stories, I realized that Team Xbox embodies those same three qualities."
I recently outlined some of the pain points Microsoft will have to overcome in an extensive essay I penned last week. One of the concerns I had explicitly pertained to what might happen to our digital libraries in a universe where publishers seek growth at the expense of the console. Not only does it sound as though Microsoft has no plans to throw in the towel when it comes to gaming hardware, but it sounds as though Microsoft is preparing to ensure that no matter what happens, we should be able to maintain access to our Xbox games long term. I know that Microsoft is quite proud of Windows' backward compatibility capabilities, considering you can run games from the 80s via MS-DOS without issues. I also know that Microsoft wants to ensure Xbox is known for a similar dedication to preservation.
Sarah Bond addressed the challenges facing the wider game industry, as gaming hours are increasingly concentrated around a handful of so-called "black hole titles" like Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of Duty, where players get increasingly reluctant to try anything new. The console market has also shrunk overall since its peak in 2008, leaving platform holders wondering where the next generation of growth will come from as costs continue to increase.
"At a time when the gaming industry's growth is flattening, ours continues," Sarah noted, emphasizing Microsoft's ability to diversify and pivot. Microsoft's knack for diversification has helped it leapfrog Apple to retake the world's most valuable company crown. Xbox has now become bigger than Windows itself—a fact that might've seemed impossible ten years ago. Huge challenges remain, but like I said, similarly huge opportunities are presenting themselves, too.
