Xbox Would Be Better Without Microsoft, Analyst Says. The Expert Did Not Specify Where Xbox Would Get the Money to Be Better

Alinea Analytics also believes that the new head of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma, will be able to bring the gaming division out of stagnation.

In a recent newsletter, Alinea Analytics' Head of Market Analytics, Rhys Elliott, noted that game development is more of an art than a classic technology business. According to him, the industry is built on "hits" and requires long development cycles, which does not align well with a large corporation's expectations of stable returns on investment.

Elliott believes that despite the lack of experience in the gaming industry of the new head of Microsoft Gaming, Agi Sharma, she can prove herself as an effective manager. However, in the long term, he calls the most logical step the separation of Xbox into an independent company. The brand's assets include such giants as Activision and Bethesda, as well as some of the most valuable game series in the industry. An independent Xbox could free itself from the need to compare its profitability with Azure or the scale of Windows and return to its roots - more flexible and game-oriented competition.

According to analysts, Sharma may become the leader who will prepare Xbox for exiting the stagnation around Game Pass and controversial marketing decisions. However, for the full revival of the brand's 25-year legacy, it needs to stop being a secondary direction within the Microsoft empire and become an independent structure.

Elliott did not specify where Xbox would get the money to work with its own assets and develop as a separate structure. We remind you that Xbox has been operating at a loss or at zero for many years in a row. The division spends much more than it earns, and without Microsoft's financial support, it would have ceased to exist long ago.