Microsoft Launches Xbox One X, Aims To Boost Gaming Software, Services

As Microsoft launches their new Xbox One X, the software giant also aims to focus on its game unit in order to boost revenue from gaming software and other services, they plan to increase investment in the area of developing more in house games, by acquiring and starting studios to do so.

Xbox Chief Phil Spencer last week in an interview said that this is something the company has been working on for the past several years during which time the company has cancelled games, faced criticism from gamers at the industry conference.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that they will start selling the Xbox One X targeting hard core gamers and also added by Spencer in a statement during the interview is that “We need to grow, and I look forward to doing that, “Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths. We haven’t always invested at the same level. We’ve gone through ups and downs in the investment.”

This renewed investment of the company in the area of Xbox games as a business is seen as a boost to the gaming industry. This is because just a few years ago Microsoft viewed the gaming unit as a sideline of the company but September this year, Spencer was promoted to report directly to the Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, and he had the opportunity to sit with the management board. Spencer had a goal which was restoring the gaming to the frontline of the company and most recently the mind set of the directors and senior leadership team was changed and gaming was declared an important market, but one that was not core to Microsoft’s mission.

Why wouldn’t Microsoft be happy to invest more in this market? Market research firm Newzoo revealed that the global gaming market was worth about $99.6b in 2016 and this is up 8.4 percent from the previous year.

                                                 Xbox One 4k resolution, source: Kotaku

See more specs (Source: Kotaku)

• x86-64 2.3GHz 8-core AMD custom CPU
• AMD Radeon-based graphics clocked at 1172MHz with 40 compute units, 6 TFLOPS
• 12GB GDDR5 Memor
• 1TB HDD
• 4K UHD Blu-ray drive
• Input/Output: Power, HDMI out, HDMI in, USB 3.0 x 3, IR out, S/PDIF, gigabit ethernet
• Networking: IEEE 802.11ac dual band (5GHz and 2.4Ghz), 2×2 wireless Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct
• Power consumption: 245W
• Size: 11.8″ by 9.4″ by 2.3″
• Weight: 8.4 lbs/3.8 kg
• Price: $499.99