Microsoft CEO jokes with Jensen Huang that NVIDIA wouldn't exist without gaming

In a recent Q&A session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the future of the Xbox brand, the Microsoft CEO revealed how he jokes with NVIDIA's Jensen Huang about how neither Microsoft nor NVIDIA would exist without gaming.

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The comment from Nadella comes on the heels of widespread concern about the future of the Xbox brand, particularly following the shake-up of high-level executives, which resulted in the departure of 25-year Xbox veteran and CEO Phil Spencer. Nadella sat down with new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, and both individuals put the concerns of Xbox fans to rest by publicly stating that gaming is a core identity to Microsoft and that Microsoft as a company will "always" be investing in the space.

Nadella emphasized that Microsoft wouldn't be where it is today without its previous investments in gaming, and how those investments haven't just created fantastic games for people to enjoy, but also accelerated the development of other technology sectors, such as cloud, Windows, and GPU-based servers. The last point is why Nadella jokes with Huang about how Microsoft and NVIDIA wouldn't exist without gaming.

"The trickle from that excellence to the rest of the company becomes straight forward. I joke with [NVIDIA CEO] Jensen Huang, if it wasn't for gaming [NVIDIA] wouldn't exist. Think about it, without DirectX, I don't think the entire GPU revolution, or the acceleration would've happened," said Nadella

For NVIDIA, it was the creation of the GeForce 256, the first GeForce-branded card and the first chip marketed as a GPU. The 256 was historically significant as it was the first card to move the geometry processing traditionally handled by the CPU over to the graphics chip, significantly improving 3D performance in games. As a result of making a chip that by all means leveled up gaming performance, NVIDIA had created the first GPU, which has now become one of the most sought-after pieces of technology to ever hit the market.

As for Microsoft, Nadella points out that the creation of DirectX in 1995, during the era of Windows 95, completely changed Microsoft as a company. For those who don't know, DirectX made it possible for software, especially games, to communicate with PC hardware such as the GPU, CPU, sound card, and input devices. Simply put, DirectX is the software layer that enables developers to write a game once and have it work across millions of different Windows PCs with different hardware configurations.

"That's why I'm long on it. Phil, he's always talked to me about how gaming is the largest entertainment category - what is gaming in its most expansive form going forward? This doesn't mean we walk away from people are doing today - when we think about a AAA game on a console.

The question is about where else can we go to extend that. For me, we're long on gaming. We'll continue to invest, and we'll always do so. It's up to this team to show an excellence in execution, and creativity. Software always carries risk, but this is software with lots of creation risk. It's way different. But yet, we have to be the best-in-class at it," added Nadella

DirectX is also the origin of the Xbox name, as the original console was internally called the DirectX Box, as it used a modified version of the DirectX API used on PC. Furthermore, DirectX is also used by GPU manufacturers such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel to design new graphics card drivers and hardware features.

Without the investments Microsoft and NVIDIA made into the gaming space, PCs and by extension, consoles, AI, hardware, and software would look very different today.