370°

Elop + Microsoft = Potential Disaster

Stephen Elop, former CEO of Nokia, appears to be lobbying hard to get the top job at Microsoft, or at least talking loudly enough about what he'd do if he gets the top job that makes me think he's not the right person for the position.

Xbox is making money for Microsoft. It has nothing to do with Office or the enterprise, which really is a good thing because it gives the company diversity outside of its historic core moneymakers. Further, of the consumer big three of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, only Microsoft has a footprint into the living room by virtue of being connected to the TV for games. The next generation Xbox One is designed to overlay onto existing TV and cable TV connections, allowing it to intermediate TV watching with the ability to inject Skype calling and add voice control for the selection of TV shows

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techzone360.com
mrpsychoticstalker4516d ago

People at Microsoft are smarter than that, the Xbox division is making money for them and it is their last chance for the dominion of the living room. they will never sell the Xbox division.

iamnsuperman4516d ago (Edited 4516d ago )

They (well investors/analysts and people like this guy) are smart to realise they/Microsoft have a problem. The problem is these people think what makes Microsoft money has deteriorated under Ballmer's reign because of having to spend money and concentrate resources on other things. Bing was an incredible dumb moveand they should abandon it. It still requires work to compete with Google which means more money.... The Xbox makes money but no where near anything substantial to their greater products (that is the hard decision to make. Is the living room and important market?)

In the end Microsoft has been failing in innovating and anticipating the market with its software whicb has been more reactive. They need to sort this as people like Google, Apple and other much smaller companies are encroaching on their 'secure' income. That is why there have been all this talk and Microsoft is smart enough to know it. It is all about resource management and where Microsoft should put it's focus because these more side products have distracted their focus (which isn't helped by people reporting that Microsoft's division do not like working together under Ballmer's reign)

kingdip904516d ago

Why more people can't comprehend this is beyond me, from an investor point of veiw spinning off xbox can make perfect sense, the investors make money either way and in microsoft terms the profits the xbox makes are meager so its a none issue to them.

I understand that people love xbox but just because some people do doesn't mean that microsoft keeping it is a good idea for them...

Insomnia_844516d ago

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

THIS!

redwin4515d ago

@king. If ms sells Xbox, I will never have confidence in their product and I will throw away my pc, ms phone and Xbox. I'll buy an apple computer and phone and a ps4. ( the ms phone is my daughter's, but u get the point). If we all do that, u gonna have to sell your ms stock in a year.

Kleptic4515d ago (Edited 4515d ago )

The Xbox division has been under shareholder scrutiny for years, that isn't anything new...

the 'newer' thing with MS is that now even internal personel are starting to question what exactly they are attempting to accomplish?

obviously, they want to make money...but by what margin? Internal investment in 'diversity' related products (i.e. the stuff outside of OEM windows/office sales, as well as enterprise wise networking deals)...has been just about as half-assed as possible...Xbox fans won't admit that, the gaming media won't admit that, but from a business perspective...isn't it easy to see why someone investing money would simply say 'what the hell are you guys doing?'...Its fine that they are trying to get into other markets, but its like they expect to just show up and have the most popular stuff...and its just not working out that way...

Zune (now...xbox music haha? what?), Bing, and the entire industry of mobile devices...they have nearly no chance to catch up in those markets...

video game consoles...they still have a strong foothold backed by a steady stream of start up investment over the past decade...the 'hard' part, is over so to speak...however, recent mishaps have set them considerably back...again...most reports show that a huge amount of market share earned through this current generation, particularly in the United States, could be gone in as little as a year...we'll see...but its not exactly all sunshine in this regard...

When a company plateau's, changes start coming in fast...MS is profiting, but on margins so small compared to 10 years ago...this was inevitable...I don't know if getting rid of xbox is the right move; but i hardly find it that surprising...

oh, and this 'because the xbox works with a television subscription' is very near sighted...take a look at cable subscription adoption vs. something like netflix over the past 5 years...if this author thinks banking on 'cable tv' is going to help the xbox division out of this mess, think again...over-priced commercial pushing is plummeting a lot faster than pretty much anything in consumer regards...

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4515d ago
amiga-man4516d ago

The problem with MS is that gaming isn't at their heart, you can bet the people at the top have never played a video game and see it more of a distraction than anything that offers any real value.

That to me though is short sighted, there are many advantages a successful xbox would bring that go far beyond just making money, but it would take a vision and commitment that MS lacks and this guy could be the perfect example of that.

kingdip904516d ago

The people at the top is definitely the problem. I have beef with xbxox for sure over the drm attempt and such but I will give credit where its due, xbox sure as heck seems to have people who are passionate about games... unfortunately orders come from the top to integrate with every single other thing microsoft does and to trojan horse the living room and then you end up with the pr disaster that is xbox one.

Microsoft selling xbox would be good for xbox and for gamers

HammadTheBeast4516d ago

They're the guys who consider it a toy, and find Bing a more attractive investment.

Deadpoolio4516d ago (Edited 4516d ago )

You understand that they have never made money off the xbox right? NO FACT it has never made them a penny...

Oh wait what am I talking about your clearly an Xbot who loves gargling that Microjizz otherwise you would actually know that they haven't made a penny off of Xbox

mrpsychoticstalker4516d ago

I think you better check your sources again, have you forgotten all the millions Don mattick brought after changes to the dashboard were applied? Perhaps the hardware did not make them money but their LiVe did and will continue to do so while most multiplayer fans prefer Xbox live to PS network.

lastofgen4516d ago

Elop is a decent leader, but nowhere near good enough to lead a huge company like microsoft.
It was primarily because of him and his inability to react to the smartphone market that Nokia fell so much over the past few years. Honestly, I don't think he'll be chosen as a ceo.

And bing has just begun to gain traction (the online division is actually making profits for microsoft now) and the xbox business is microsoft's major push into the living room, so I don't think anyone at microsoft would want to let the two services go. They've invested too much into them to simply kill them off or sell them off.

mrpsychoticstalker4516d ago

totally agree with you, its been years of investments towards the Xbox Brand to easily let it go.

iamnsuperman4516d ago

"It was primarily because of him and his inability to react to the smartphone market that Nokia fell so much over the past few years"

Or it is called a hostile takeover move. Look evidence is pointing to him still working for Microsoft. The fact he is still being publicly considered for the CEO role of Microsoft after the Nokia affair should be clear enough. Microsoft needed an established phone manufacturer to push it's software. Elop 'decisions'made that possible. We were all surprised by Microsoft's move on Nokia until the storm settled and he was re hired

ExDexteraDomini4516d ago

It isn't like the Windows OS is becoming more popular and it's not like Microsoft would be more popular if they got rid of Bing and Xbox. If anything, those are both some of the last remaining things I can positively associate with Microsoft. To let either of those go would be a setback for them, I say this even for Bing mainly because of its integration into most of their products.

Stick894516d ago

"Xbox is making money for them"...isn't it also losing a lot of money for them? Investors don't give a shit if your product is bringing in a billion dollars a year if you are losing twice that much supporting it.

BitbyDeath4516d ago

Therein lies the problem.

“Xbox is cool, but by our estimates Microsoft has not made money at this”

http://www.eteknix.com/micr...

Manic20144516d ago

Actually since 07 the division is being profitable, though they still have to recover from all their investments to the division. Most of the loss is heavily due to the RROD situation. Though every years since 07 has been profitable for MS.......

http://www.neowin.net/news/...

Show all comments (35)
70°

Metacritic's 2026 Game Publisher Rankings

Jason Dietz: "We reveal the past year's best and worst video game publishers (based on their 2025 releases) in the 16th edition of our annual Game Publisher Rankings."

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metacritic.com
Christopher3h ago

Take note, Sony, you're falling behind by a lot.

-Foxtrot3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

I was just going to say this, their biggest and top rated game here is TLOU2 for PC….it’s embarrassing.

Even Ubisoft and EA are ahead

Kind of surprised Nintendo is pretty low aswell, their biggest game is also a rerelease with the Switch 2 version of TotK.

SimulationDaily3h ago

But... but... the garbage-mongers always tell us that Square Enix is in trouble! 😂

Christopher3h ago

Square doesn't help that it fear mongers itself with ridiculous 'goals' that they can't reach and then they proclaim failure if they don't reach it. They're quite freaking profitable and people act like they're dying.

SimulationDaily2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Keep in mind that these "proclamations" are usually third-hand bad translations from somedude who was at the investor conference, posted on Twitter, and picked up by press and youtubers like they were gold, and then when the official translation comes out, they're much softer statements, but at that point, the damage is done.

3h ago
49m ago
70°

Two more senior Xbox leaders exit Microsoft

Microsoft has lost another two long-serving members of its senior team: corporate VP of partnerships, business development, and marketing, Lori Wright, and general manager of gaming AI at Xbox, Haiyan Zhang. Both announced their departures on LinkedIn.

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eurogamer.net
Paik4d ago

Who?

Also an AI person leaving is a good thing

SimulationDaily3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

People in this industry move around. People's reaction to this kind of (usually irrelevant) article is always hilarious.

Of course, it's a weekend, so you can't expect the "contributors" at Eurogamer to contribute anything relevant. Finding real gaming news is hard for some 😂

VenomUK2d ago

Xbox influencer Colt Eastwood made a complete fool of himself, again. He posted his assumption that Asha Sharma fired the staff, but when Haitian Zhang politely refuted his claim he deleted his tweet!

https://x.com/jamiesact/sta...

peppeaccardo3d ago

Abandon ship ... Abandon ship ....

darthv723d ago

Its the ones who were part of the team that decided on taking XB games 3rd party.... no real loss.

fr0sty2d ago

Microsoft's shareholders and CEO made that call, not Xbox.

gold_drake3d ago

they've definitely worked there for too long. their responses are "me me me me" shit.

no sane person talks like that.

1Victor3d ago

You know what the sailors say about sinking ships

2d ago Replies(6)
1Victor2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

@Maximus:” @elda - why bother replying to that delusional clown?”
.
The worse part is the wasted time replying and then getting erased when his account get banned

2d ago
Show all comments (20)
40°

Indie studio Speculative Agency returns Microsoft Xbox funding and urges others to boycott

Indie studio Speculative Agency - which is currently making "a narrative courtroom deck-builder about ordinary people who make the powerful pay for destroying our future", called All Will Rise (quote from Kickstarter) - has made the brave decision to return funding given by Xbox and Microsoft to join the No Games For Genocide boycott.

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eurogamer.net
StarcrossedBits12d ago

Oh good lord. Could Eurogamer wear their politics more overtly on their sleeve? While I disagree with Speculative Agency's decision the article by Eurogamer is painful. It's not a news article, its a propaganda opinion piece. Consider the language used:
*"Brave decision to return funding" -- A proper article would have said 'made the decision' or 'made the difficult decision'. Saying 'brave' editorializes in a way that isn't appropriate for news article.
*"All Will Rise narrative director Meghna Jayanth - renowned for her work on Inkle's 80 Days and, more recently, the genre-mash-up skateboarding dating game Thirsty Suitors" -- The writer is significantly exaggerating the relevance of this person. They are not renowned. I'm a former game journalist who is obsessed with game development and indie games and I vaguely remember those games as minor blips and nothing of real note. The narrative director is definitely not a well known name (something required to be 'renowned').
*The article provides no critical thought or counterpoint, nothing to to push back the idea that Microsoft is contributing to genocide. In fact the opposite, it accepts the statement as truth and then links to a video to educate their uninformed viewers about the evil of Microsoft. (Of course, Eurogamer has accepted significant funds from Microsoft)

TheGamersDojo11d ago

Yep, I stopped reading relatively quickly when I learned what it was about. They, like many other sites, have gone from one of the greats to unfortunate political propaganda site in recent years.

1nsomniac11d ago

… so no one cares about your opinion either. You’re a no one. What does it matter.

Huey_My_D_Long11d ago

Over 35 States enact laws on restricting BDS to protect Israel, but yeah this one piece is propaganda and needs to do both sides? Because it needs to offer counter points that MS is not contributing to a Genocide? Despite the business dealings they have with Israel like "Microsoft's cloud computing and AI services have been used by the Israeli military to facilitate its operations in Gaza and for mass surveillance of Palestinians"
.
I mean if you dont think there is a Genocide...how about you just say so? Or that MS services are not helping Israel in their efforts. Seems like propaganda already got to you
I see why you are a former journalist

Christopher11d ago

I mean, everything Microsoft (and Sony and Nintendo and Valve) puts out is also propaganda for their company. Are we criticizing every bit of propaganda or just Eurogamer?

I get your point, but it seems to be from an echo room and not as the industry as a whole.

Personally, I'm fine with people having their own opinions. Doesn't change mine.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 11d ago