If it seems like Microsoft is de-emphasizing the importance of owning an Xbox console to play its games, that’s because the company cares way more about its digital platform and about a box that sits next to your TV.
Xbox Live, not Xbox One or even the souped-up Scorpio, is the central pillar of Microsoft’s gaming strategy, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in a presentation to investors on Thursday. Spencer sees Xbox Live as the social network that kickstarts consumer interest in spending money on Microsoft’s content. And while that might’ve happened primarily on the console in the past, he wants Xbox Live at the center of the gaming experience across any device with a screen.
“So for us at Microsoft when we thought about our path forward, we said we came from a place of console, we came from one device,” said Spencer. “But we really started looking at the assets that we had in our business, and we realized that obviously the number one asset that we have is our customers, and the engagement that they put into our network that is Xbox Live.”
As an example, Spencer talked…