Xbox business enjoying 'really good success,' Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer says

Microsoft's gaming business is apparently doing very well behind the scenes as Xbox CEO Phil Spencer gives a quick update on the state of the cross-platform media segment.

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All signs point to Xbox gaming being on the rise. Xbox earnings hit a record-breaking $5.72 billion last quarter, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recognized that Xbox games took over the PS Store once again, and reports suggest Xbox Game Pass subscribers have broken 35 million.

While we don't know what Xbox's bottom line actually is--we don't get operating profit info for Microsoft's games segment--it sounds like the $68.7 billion Activision merger has done well for the company.

In a recent interview with Microsoft's own Inside Xbox podcast, Phil Spencer touched upon some of the success points that he is currently seeing and reiterates that the Xbox business is accountable to the higher-ups at Microsoft.

You know, I think our first party teams have done amazing work so far this year when you think about the launches that we've had.

We're investing in a new form factor piece of hardware for us with our partners at ASUS, which means on our side, we have a lot of design work that we did with them.

We did a lot of operating system work that continues.

These are areas we're investing in.

I think Game Pass is having an amazing year. I think when I look at Xbox Play Anywhere and how much that's showing up in the show, there's so many things that are working for us right now.

And our jobs inside the company is to run a good business. We're accountable to Microsoft for running a good business, a healthy business that continues to grow at both top line and bottom line. That's kind of a foundation for us.

And what that does is it allows us to continue to invest in Xbox for our community of players and creators, and that we're doing it.

It does mean we have to make trade offs through the year on things that we're going to invest more in, things that we're not going to invest as much in because it is kind of...

...We are the business that we are, but the business is having really good success. I even think to the last quarter and some of the stats that Satya Nadella (and) Amy Hood went through talking about how the business is growing.

And I'm just really proud of the scale of the Xbox business right now. It's obviously never been as big as it is now and how it's really delivering for our players, our creators, and the company. It's a strong position.

Microsoft recently announced the first-ever Xbox handheld, the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, and is making big strides in its Play Anywhere cross-platform initiative.

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