Microsoft / Sony – Going Live

Microsoft and Sony have a huge opportunity in mobile gaming.  

• It looks as if Microsoft is intending to make a much bigger deal of its underutilised asset XBox Live.
• Sony has the same opportunity but I have yet to see the company do anything to capitalise on this opportunity,
• A recent job posting at Microsoft stated that the company wishes to create a framework that encompasses iOS and Android as well as its own properties.
• To me this means that Microsoft is intending to take XBox Live and roll it out onto Android and iOS.
• This makes a lot of sense because the vast majority of XBox Live users are not users of Windows Phone.
• Furthermore, they have a predisposition to use Xbox Live given the fact that they own a console.
• Gaming is an incredibly important part of Digital Life as users of mobile phones spend more time playing games than they do anything else.
• Microsoft and Sony own the most important and valuable gaming properties and they have an opportunity to roll that out into mobile.
• Both of these companies have their own mobile devices which they will want to prioritise but their market share is very low in both cases.
• Hence, by making their gaming platforms available on the devices of other makers, they can extend the most important part of their ecosystems beyond their own reach.
• They key here will be the user.
• If owners of Xbox and PlayStation consoles demand that the platforms be available on their mobile devices and then value will migrate away from Apple and Google towards Microsoft and Sony.
• This is a big ask.
• Both of these companies are badly siloed and heavily encumbered in their ability to move quickly and it is quite possible that Google and Apple improve their gaming offerings before Microsoft and Sony can execute.
• That would leave users preferring to play games using the Apple and Google offerings and not caring about XBox or PlayStation.
• That being said XBox and PlayStation already have a leading position in consoles and hence an opportunity to get users of iOS and Android devices to begin attributing importance to having these platforms available on their devices.
• In the long-run there could be an opportunity to get those users to switch onto their own devices but they will have to make their gaming networks hugely successful first.
• The best part of this is that Microsoft has the opportunity to extend its influence in the ecosystem without compromising the revenues from its Windows business.
• These gamers are not Windows Phone users and so no revenues are lost by allowing them to play XBox games on iOS or Android devices.
• This is not necessarily the case when making Office available on iOS and Android.
• This could be a meaningful step forward for Microsoft and gives me hope for the future.
• It is a small sign that the company will execute on its integrated ecosystem vision rather than stick its head in the sand and give in to the market’s desire for it to become a dull and slow growing enterprise company.