[5] The division owns intellectual property for some of the most popular, best-selling, and highest-grossing media franchises of all time, including Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, Halo, Minecraft, and The Elder Scrolls.

Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass in 2017, marking a pivotal year in which the company reevaluated its strategy to focus on a service-based business model rather than exclusive titles.

Instead of competing solely based on exclusive content, Microsoft aimed to offer a broader value proposition to gamers through a subscription service that provided access to a vast library of games.

[46] Johanna Faries, the former general manager of the Call of Duty franchise, officially took on the role of the new president of Blizzard Entertainment on January 29, 2024, commencing her position on February 5.

A special Official Xbox Podcast was held on February 15, 2024 with Spencer, Bond, and Booty, discussing that Microsoft Gaming was looking to release some of its first-party titles on other consoles.

[68] Spencer elaborated on the strategy in February 2025, stating that due to player investment in libraries on other platforms, Microsoft was no longer attempting to move prospective users towards Xbox, instead concluding that multiplatform distribution enabled the publisher to build a better games portfolio.

[69] Beginning with the Xbox Developer Direct in January 2025, Microsoft Gaming presentations advertised the availability of their first-party titles on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.

[85] Muse generates low-resolution gameplay clips (300x180, 10 frames per second) and responds to real-time interactions, including controller actions and in-game elements like power cells.

Among the video game franchises owned by Microsoft Gaming include Call of Duty, Halo, Minecraft, Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, Overwatch, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake, Dishonored, Pillars of Eternity, State of Decay, Hellblade, Gears of War, Fable, Forza, Tony Hawk's, Guitar Hero, Skylanders, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Age of Empires, and Candy Crush.

[93]Phil Spencer has expressed that his vision for Xbox has consistently aimed at shifting the brand's focus from being primarily console-centric to becoming a content-first platform, with a strong emphasis on prioritizing player engagement over sheer console sales.

[94] Phil Spencer expressed his viewpoint by stating that the essence of the business lies not in the quantity of consoles sold but in the number of players actively participating in and enjoying the games they acquire, as well as the manner in which they choose to engage with them.

By prioritizing Xbox's growth through attracting new players and supporting creators, Phil aims to ensure long-term strength and success for the platform and the industry as a whole.

[106][107] In 2023, during an interview with Famitsu, Phil Spencer announced that, leveraging Activision Blizzard's capabilities, they are now planning to release a first-party video game every three months.

Popular multiplayer titles under Microsoft Gaming's umbrella include Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Call of Duty: Warzone, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch 2, Diablo IV, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Halo Infinite, State of Decay 2, and many others.

[120] This competitive landscape presented challenging obstacles that prompted Microsoft Gaming to re-evaluate their strategy and potentially explore other genres or approaches to improve their market position.

Microsoft Gaming attempted to gain traction in the third-person single-player genre by developing titles like Gears of War, Quantum Break, and Sunset Overdrive.

However, despite these efforts, the company continues to face challenges in competing successfully in this genre, struggling to match the market dominance of competitors such as Sony and Nintendo.

[124] Microsoft aims to incorporate strong social features and effective monetization strategies within games like Call of Duty, Minecraft and World of Warcraft to establish a competitive presence in the evolving landscape of virtual environments.

[125][126] The move aligns with industry trends where companies are exploring ways to create immersive and interconnected virtual worlds, combining social interactions with in-game purchases.

The company strategically positioning itself in the Metaverse trend, evident in its efforts to strengthen its gaming portfolio and explore opportunities for social interactions and monetization strategies within virtual environments.

The company's move to acquire major gaming publishers, including the notable purchase of ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, has sparked debates about potential monopolistic tendencies.

[170][171] The concern centers around the potential impact on market competition, with skeptics worrying that the consolidation of major titles under one umbrella might limit choices for gamers and stifle innovation.

[180] Microsoft, in a statement, claimed that Activision Blizzard had already been planning to eliminate a significant number of jobs while still operating independently, and that these layoffs are unrelated to the merger.

[184] Employees also pointed fingers at Microsoft for not promptly addressing reports of abuse, claiming that the company fell short of its diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives.

[187] On December 16, 2023, Activision Blizzard agreed to pay approximately $54 million to settle discrimination claims brought by the California Civil Rights Department on behalf of women employed by the company.

[192] The decision to distribute various first-party Xbox titles on non-Xbox consoles, particularly its direct competitor the PlayStation 5, has been a subject of continued scrutiny since rumors first emerged of the initiative taking place internally at Microsoft in early 2024.

[194] Oli Welsh from Polygon reciprocated the speculation, also adding that in the ninth generation of video game consoles, the Xbox Series X/S already occupied a "distant third place" in hardware sales when compared to either of its competing platforms, and wasn't able to recapture the market share and financial viability Microsoft had previously enjoyed during the Xbox 360 generation, meaning distributing their portfolio to the "tens of millions of customers" on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles was an approach to software that could prove itself more successful due to the franchises under their umbrella they could exploit.

[195] Reporting on the strategic pivot for The Verge in February 2024, Microsoft content editor Tom Warren surmised that Xbox's plan to branch out beyond their standard three-tier console and PC and cloud gaming model to other platforms was an indicator of a lack of engagement with their content and services, particularly with regards to slowing Game Pass subscriptions and the need for the company to pursue other revenue streams such as mobile.

[196] In contrast, criticism has been directed at Microsoft Gaming for such a strategy deincentivizing the value proposition of an Xbox console both as a competing hardware platform, as well as an intrinsic device in their ecosystem to facilitate software and services.

"[200] The announcement of the MachineGames title Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024) launching on PlayStation 5 after a period of timed exclusivity on Xbox Series X/S and PC was met with particularly divisive reactions due to its original confirmation as an Xbox console exclusive,[201] as Microsoft Gaming had amended the contract terms with IP holder Lucasfilm to initially exclude a PlayStation 5 release after their acquisition of MachineGames alongside other Bethesda studios in 2021.