Microsoft CEO Hopeful Stephen Elop Eyes Xbox Gaming In Potential Sell-Off


Microsoft CEO hopeful Stephen Elop has said he will likely sell Bing and Xbox if elected. What could this mean for early adapters to Xbox One?

Speculation suggests that if Microsoft abandons the console early on, there is a chance that the Xbox One will shed the nickname Xbone with a company who takes it a little more seriously. That, or the console will be one of the biggest gaming failures since Virtual Boy as Microsoft hands it over to a company that doesn’t know anything about gaming, like Nokia (N-Gage, anybody?).

Ex-CEO of Nokia Stephen Elop hopes to replace former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The decision to sell the Xbox console off is the result of reports that the Xbox brand has reportedly cost Microsoft billions of dollars, making it a massive drain on the company.

Rick Sherlund, an analyst for the Nomura Group, has stated about the Xbox brand, “We conclude that Xbox platform plus Windows phone and Skype lose about $2.5 billion per year, and we estimate that the Xbox platform may account for roughly $2 billion of this”

Oddly, the Xbox One is one of the few things Microsoft has done well in recent years. Windows 8 was about as popular as Windows Vista from the start, Windows Phones are practically falling off the map, and the Surface turned out to be almost a commercial joke as it was released alongside its Apple counterpart.

It’s mostly the public image that Microsoft created this past year surrounding the Xbox One that is to blame for the console’s potential early death. It could prove worthwhile, though, and under the right conditions, Microsoft CEO hopeful Stephen Elop won’t let it go.

The official report of what Stephen Elop said about the Xbox is as follows:

“Besides emphasizing Office, Elop would be prepared to sell or shut down major businesses to sharpen the company’s focus, the people said. He would consider ending Microsoft’s costly effort to take on Google with its Bing search engine, and would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy, the people said.”

If the Xbox One does well, Microsoft would keep it under Stephen’s supervision. If it does not, Xbox One and Xbox Live could switch ownership within the first year, and change dramatically after the first three. A lot is hanging on the line for the next gen console, and gamers everywhere could see one of the biggest changes in the history of gaming since the PlayStation.

What do you think Microsoft CEO hopeful Stephen Elop should do with the Xbox brand?

[image via matthi / Shutterstock.com]

Share this article: Microsoft CEO Hopeful Stephen Elop Eyes Xbox Gaming In Potential Sell-Off
More from Inquisitr