Xbox can do for Microsoft what iPhone did for Apple, Spencer believes

Microsoft’s new Xbox boss thinks Xbox is the key to Microsoft’s reversal of its recent struggles.

The tech giant has endured a partial fall from grace following the mass market transition from desktop PCs to tablets and smartphones. This has been compounded by Xbox One’s inability to keep up with rival PS4, despite impressive sales in its own right.

But speculation that new CEO Satya Nadella wants to sell off the Xbox business as part of a wider restructuring is wide of the mark, new Xbox boss Phil Spencer claims.

"I fundamentally believe that gaming can be a real catalyst for Microsoft’s re-emergence as a consumer company," Spencer said on the Major Nelson podcast, as reported by CVG.

"I go back and I look at 1999 with Apple. And they, on the back of music, became a very relevant consumer brand. It would be great to be at the part where people look back [at our history] and said, this is when Microsoft committed to gaming across everything that we did, led with what we do on Xbox One."

Spencer added that Nadella personally told him "gaming is going to be a first-class citizen within this company".