Microsoft CEO affirms support in Xbox, calls company ‘fortunate’ to have the brand

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today released a company-wide email detailing, among other things, the value he places in the Xbox brand.

“The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming,” Nadella said. “We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox.”

Developments within the gaming sector also benefit other efforts, Nadella added. “Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base. We also benefit from many technologies following from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts – core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more.

“Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft,” he concluded.

Nadella was named CEO just this past February, and his praise for the Xbox brand comes on the heels of rumors that the division could be sold off. Bill Gates himself said that he is “absolutely for” Xbox being spun off, provided Nadella supported the shift. Today’s email comes as a firm reminder that Xbox isn’t going anywhere.

[via Polygon]