During an interview with protocol,Xbox boss Phil Spencer made some interesting statements that reflect the direction Xbox has been moving for some years now. In short, Spencer says that Microsoft sees Google and Amazon as major competitors for Xbox,and no longer Sony and Nintendo which the executive claims are " traditionalgaming companies".

Spencer explains:"When it comes to Nintendo and Sony, we have great respect for them but we see Amazon and Google as our main competitors for the future. It's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of place. I guess they might try to recreate Azure, but we've invested tens of billions of dollars in the cloud over the years."

What Spencer implies with this phrase is that, for Microsoft, the gaming business has now moved to the cloud and services: it is certainly important to sell consoles,but it is even more important to increase the number of subscribers to services such as Xbox Game Pass and xCloud, an achievement that is achieved with the content (hence the many new studios acquired) and the power of infrastructure. It's a world to which Google has already projected itself with Stadia,and persistent rumors want an imminent entry of Amazon into this area as well. It's no coincidence that Microsoft, Google and Amazon own the three largest and most powerful cloud infrastructures in the world: Azure, Googl Cloud, and Amazon AWS.

Spencer continues:"I don't want to be engaged in a format war with these companies [riferendosi a Sony e Nintendo] as Amazon and Google focus on bringing gaming to seven billion people worldwide. In the end, that's the goal. Instead, the executive explains that he is also willing to work with the two gaming giants, explaining that he is " eager to cooperate with Nintendo and Sony on initiatives such as allowing players indifferent companies' systems to play together or against one another. " It is no coincidence that Microsoft was the most convinced proponent of cross-play,forcing its own hand to Sony to convince it to open PSN to players of other systems.

In short, the message is clear more than ever: for Microsoft the goal is not to sell more consoles or more games than other companies, but to welcome as many players as possible intothe Xbox ecosystem, and this will do so in many different ways: by inviting hardcore gamers aboard Xbox Series X,allowing casual gamers to play on less powerful systems like lockhart noise and breaking down barriers to gaming with initiatives like the Xbox Game Pass (which will always be more and more rich in titles). interesting, exclusive included) and especially xCloud,which aims to allow anyone to play Xbox titles, even without having a console.

An interesting future, don't you think?