Microsoft – Better lucky than good.

Many years late but maybe not too late.

• Microsoft should be thankful that everyone else in the games industry has also made a mess of mobile meaning that, while bringing Xbox Live to mobile is many years late, the opportunity is fortunately still there.
• Microsoft has finally made Xbox Live functionality available for any Android or iOS game vastly increasing the potential reach of Xbox Live.
• This is something I have been waiting for the company to do since RFM launched its coverage of Microsoft’s ecosystem in 2013 but better late than never.
• This is particularly the case because gaming remains the one Digital Life segment in developed markets where there is still no dominant player.
• In China, this segment is dominated by Tencent but overseas many have tried and failed.
• Google, Apple, Sony and Activision among others have all failed to establish a thriving multiplayer community on mobile devices, which has left the segment wide open.
• Furthermore, gaming remains the 2^nd biggest segment in developed markets with a 23% share of all time spent on devices playing games.
• Microsoft’s has finally launched a new cross-platform SDK for game developers that brings the Xbox Live functionality into their games.
• This includes things like friend lists, clubs Gamerscores and so on which is the first step to widening the community that still is pretty much tied to the Xbox hardware.
• Microsoft initially tried to do this with Windows Phone but because the platform itself failed, it never really got any traction.
• This attempt, some 6 years later, comes as part of Microsoft’s push into cloud-based gaming which goes some way towards explaining the tardiness of this long overdue move.
• The caveat is, of course, that Microsoft has to convince developers to include its APIs in their games which is not something that it has been very good at historically.
• Hence, the success of this venture will depend on its ability to get developers on board, particularly those who do not already develop for the Xbox or the PC.
• If Microsoft can get some of its Xbox Live users who almost certainly play games on mobile devices to create some momentum, then there will be an opportunity to bring new members into its community.
• There is still a long way to go but, luckily for Microsoft, the opportunity is still wide open.