Power Players: Does Xbox have a future?
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What is the current state of Xbox and why is it considered “not healthy”?
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Oh, dear. Finally alone, in the middle of the field. Relax in peace. Hey! There's cocoa
in
the thermos. What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're going to feed us peas. When he first built the tent... I'll give up.
You won't get peace anywhere. Well, don't give up, because in fact... In fact, there are profitable tools in the field. It was a question of your or a friend's
project. In fact...
Microsoft Xbox, even if you've never owned one, I bet you know someone who does. 200 million plus of the various versions have been sold around the world since it launched. And yet, AI and the demand on the many chips that power it is fast turning games consoles into something of a luxury product. And as such, that's helped put firms like Microsoft and Xbox at a crossroads. Asha Sharma is the woman who's been thrown the proverbial controller to try and navigate that for Microsoft. So today on Power Players from Business Daily, chip wars, content wars and the cost of a console. How does Asha Sharma get Xbox out of a jam?
Yes, welcome back to Power Players on Business Daily. We're with you today. No Rahul and Michelle this week. We've got a great panel for you, though. A couple of people who really know this story inside out. And I think even if you're not a big gamer, I'm going to really be able to explain to you what's going on, why this matters, why things around the world that are shaping economics and business are having an impact on this story. Peter Moore is joining us from California. Peter, a former... Xbox executive also was at Sega. And Laura Kress, BBC technology reporter, who I think, Laura, certainly looking at some of your previous interviews, has spent as much time in broadcast land as anybody with Asha Sharma, the newish boss at Xbox.
How did you find her when you met her? Because you met her quite recently, right?
That's right. I met her at Gamescom, this big expo for the games industry in Germany just at the end of August. And I found her to be really pleasant, really friendly. She wanted to know what I thought about Xbox and where I thought it was going and what people were saying. So I think as a new exec, you can see she really is trying to fit into the company and work out what to do with it.
And Peter, you've had a long career across, as I mentioned, a lot of companies and Liverpool Football Club as well. Where in your heart does Xbox sit?
Oh, very much right in the center. I joined Microsoft in early 2003 as the original Xbox was kind of winding down and we were starting to build what became the Xbox 360. We needed to literally take on PlayStation in those days. Nintendo was a little bit of an afterthought and it was very much in its early days when I got there. But our focus was bringing gamers together all throughout the world. building a real community.
Well, to that point, should we wallow in a little bit more nostalgia as well? This actually just predates Peter's time, but a lovely montage the team have put together. This is Bill Gates, obviously the boss of Microsoft, alongside, naturally, Dwayne the Rock Johnson at a Toys R Us in Times Square in New York as gamers queued round the block to get their hands on the very first Xbox in November 2001.
You may have been wondering what this great device was here. This is the Xbox. And so, for the first time, let me now unveil Xbox.
The Xbox is everything The Rock is. Cutting edge, powerful, exhilarating. And like The Rock, it will be the most electrifying thing coming out this year. I don't care what people say. Xbox is the game to play. Yeah! Xbox! Woo!
There we go. Some very early 2000s razzmatazz, Laura. How important was it to have a kind of, Peter's mentioned Nintendo and Sony, a third player in there from a gamer's perspective, from a consumer's perspective? Because that was what was driving some of the excitement, right?
Oh. Oh, absolutely. And I think it was perhaps for a bit more of a hardcore gamer. I don't know if that was maybe the perception a little bit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current state of Xbox and why is it considered “not healthy”?
0:00–4:42
2
How did Xbox’s early years and the rise of Halo shape its community?
4:42–7:29
3
Why did Microsoft launch Game Pass and how has it changed Xbox’s business model?
7:29–9:55
4
What impact did the Activision‑Blizzard acquisition have on Xbox’s strategy?
9:55–12:33
5
How are AI, chip shortages and rising component costs affecting Xbox’s profitability?
12:33–15:13
6
What is Asha Sharma’s “reset” plan for Xbox and how is the division being right‑sized?
15:13–17:06
7
What is Project Helix and how might it redefine the Xbox ecosystem?
17:06–19:35
8
What does the future look like for Xbox – hardware, subscription or a hybrid model?
19:35–20:31
Speakers
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