Satya Nadella is the chief executive of Microsoft Corp. Nadella delivered a keynote address at an event hosted in Korea by the company’s Korean division.
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Microsoft Satya Nadella CEO says the tech giant is trying to make it more competitive with game publishers. The company faces an anticompetition probe into its $69 billion offer to purchase. Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard (the American game publisher behind the popular franchises Candy Crush, Warcraft, Call of Duty) could increase Microsoft’s mobile gaming presence.
The European Union is investigating the proposed takeover. Regulators are concerned that Microsoft could block access to Activision’s consoles and PC games, particularly internationally successful titles like Call of Duty.
“Our ultimate goal is to offer more options to gamers in order to allow them to play,” [on every platform] And publishers should have more competition,” Nadella said to Tanvir Gill, CNBC’s chairman and CEO at Microsoft in a Thursday interview.
Microsoft is a major player in the PC and console video games industries. They offer access to hundreds of titles via their subscription services Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass.
If completed, the Activision Blizzard deal could help Microsoft better compete with the likes of game publishers Tencent, known for the globally successful mobile game Honor of Kings, and Sony, which is setting up a PlayStation mobile gaming unit and has acquired two mobile game developers.
When Nadella was asked his opinion on the EU probe, he replied, “Like all large transactions, I think regulators ought to scrutinize them.”
Microsoft reported that its fourth quarter gaming revenue fell 7% in July. This was due to lower Xbox sales and lower engagement. However, this was partially offset by an increase in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
Nadella was asked what Microsoft’s ultimate goal in the gaming industry is. It doesn’t matter what kind of gaming you do here, or how productive you are here.
“The basic thesis for us is: What core technology do we build that allows us be in these different industries while providing valuable services for customers? What does Microsoft have to offer gamers and game publishers that is unique? “I believe there’s a lot we can do,” he said.
“With gaming, for instance, it’s streaming workload. It makes it easier to create the right cloud infrastructure. Nadella said that artificial intelligence, or AI-generated models, can be viewed differently. They can be used for both the creation and testing games.”
Nadella was asked what would happen if Activision Blizzard’s deal didn’t go through. He replied: “We have been playing gaming for decades. We will continue to be in gaming.”
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