Bill Gates has suggested he would support Microsoft in a move to spin-off the Xbox franchise with another company. He made the comments in an interview with Fox Business on Monday when being interviewed alongside Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.
He was asked during the interview if he would support new CEO Satya Nadella if he wanted to launch the Xbox business on its own, Gates then responded with “absolutely.”
He continued, "We're taking PC gaming – Windows gaming and Xbox gaming – and bringing those a lot closer together. The power of the PC graphics chips mean you can do great games there.”
“So I'm sure Satya and the team will look at that. It's up to them. We're going to have an overall gaming strategy so it's not as obvious as you might think."
Microsoft have since commented on Gates’ comments saying he was just voicing support for the new CEO Nadella. According to a Microsoft spokesperson he doesn’t believe the gaming division should be split but would support Nadella if he chose to do it.
Communications chief Frank Shaw told Eurogamer, "As Mr. Gates noted, Microsoft is committed to gaming across multiple platforms with Xbox as the centerpiece of our gaming strategy. We remain committed to Xbox and the millions of Xbox fans around the world."
Microsoft launched the Xbox One console in November 2013. Sales are higher than the predecessor the Xbox 360 but it’s still far behind the figures of Sony’s PlayStation 4 console. Critics have said spinning off the Xbox franchise into its own business may help the company to focus more.
When Nadella first took over the position of CEO the gaming business was reorganised into a three teams including Xbox, Xbox Live and the creative team which covers Xbox Music, Xbox Video and Microsoft Studios.
by jamesp via Featured Articles
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