Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has become a bit of a polarizing figure for gaming fans as the Xbox brand shifts its focus. However one thing the CEO is focused on without question is delivering great games as he re-iterated that in a recent interview.
Speaking with Dwarkish Patel in a lengthy interview Nadella didn’t spend too much time talking about the gaming business, and when he did it was mostly about yesterday’s announced Muse, their new AI initiative. Speaking about Muse Nadella said:
“This is very cool. One of the things is that obviously, Dall-E and Sora have been unbelievable in what they’ve been able to do in terms of generative models. One thing that we wanted to go after was using gameplay data. Can you actually generate games that are both consistent and then have the ability to generate the diversity of what that game represents, and then are persistent to user mods?
That’s what this is. They were able to work with one of our game studios, and this is the other publication in Nature.
The cool thing is what I’m excited about is bringing–we’re going to have a catalog of games soon that we will start using these models, or we’re going to train these models to generate, and then start playing them.”
While his comments on the AI were interesting I remain skeptical on the idea. Whim the tech may be fascinating at what expense will it be in terms of jobs? The industry is already facing huge strain on the workforce. If this somehow helps then great, but I for one am not convinced.
Great Games The Priority For Microsoft
What I was interested in hearing from Nadella about however was his commitment to gaming. While the conversation on gaming was indeed brief, Nadella really focused on what matters to them, making great games.
“So, gaming has got a long history at the company, and we want to be in gaming for gaming’s sake. I always start by saying I hate to be in businesses where they’re means to some other end. They have to be ends unto themselves.”
“The same thing with AI and gaming: we definitely think that it can be helpful in maybe changing- it’s kind of like the CGI moment, even for gaming long-term. And it’s great. As the biggest, world’s largest publisher, this will be helpful. But at the same time, we’ve got to produce great quality games. I mean, you can’t be a gaming publisher without, sort of, first and foremost being focused on that.”
To that end Microsoft has certainly been doing that of late. While the console side of the business may be floundering the actual games division is arguably stronger than its ever been and one of the strongest in the industry. Having just shipped Avowed and with games like Indiana Jones, Call Of Duty, Ara: History Untold and more late last year it’s hard to deny the fact the company is making great games.
It’s going to be fascinating to watch where Microsoft and Xbox go in the coming months and years and whether they continue the current course or not. But either way at least it appears the focus on the games is a strong sentiment at the company.
