Microsoft CEO: 'There's More Monetization of Xbox Games Happening on YouTube Than at Microsoft' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 15 June 2026 / 4,035 Views
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a live event in San Francisco with the New York Times' tech podcast Hard Fork stated that there is "more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft."
"This is the 25th year of Xbox, and we're very thrilled about the progress we have made," said Nadella (via VideoGamesChronicle). "Gaming, in an interesting way, at Microsoft is older than even Windows and Office. The first app we built was Flight Simulator. And so, it's got a long heritage. Xbox itself has been there for 25 years.
"The challenge now for us is to think about how do you innovate both in hardware as well as in the games going forward in an economically viable way?
"I think one of the things that Asha, who has just taken over Xbox, put out is that we've invested a lot. No one can accuse Microsoft of not having invested for the last 25 years. And now we have to turn this into a sustainable business that delivers what is fundamentally one of the best sources of entertainment still."
He added, "In fact, if anything, we’ve been subsidizing that entertainment. In fact, there’s more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft."
Xbox becoming more sustainable "doesn't mean we go do things that are unnatural," claimed Nadella. "We want us to do what is really our job, which is to build great games, build great hardware. But we’ve got to do it in an economically sustainable way."
He added that shortages that have caused the price of RAM and storage to increase dramatically are a temporary problem.
"The scarcity of the semiconductor supply and memory are having a massive impact on consumer electronics," he said. "That's a temporary thing that I think we'll get through. It is not going to be a permanent.
"But there is a permanent thing, which is, what's the Xbox model going forward? And that's where, if you think about it, PCs and consoles, both have their place. Obviously, mobile has. People play elsewhere. And so we have to now bring it all together while staying true to what we’ve always done."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Translation: We are done subsidizing Xbox and giving them a pass. They can either make serious profit margins or we will continue to shrink that sector of our business in favor of more profitable things.
Or spin it off.
I would love that! A lot of companies are way better off when everything is on the line and there's no rich uncle to bail them out. Innovation and product quality usually shoots way up.
That is a wild thing to say....
Can't tell if he loves or hates Xbox.
Hates in my opinion, he comes from a services background I think.
I'm sure he's thrilled about the idea of games as a service though, especially considering how big that thing is nowadays. Other aspects of gaming, those I'm not sure about...
Few words, easy to pick, will watch the whole thing later but let's look at this.
" In fact, there’s more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft." - Simple solution here, go the Nintendo route and copyright it all. People's gaming videos are now your gaming videos, your revenue. Until they remove monetisation from them all then also problem solved.
"The scarcity of the semiconductor supply and memory are having a massive impact on consumer electronics," he said. "That's a temporary thing that I think we'll get through. It is not going to be a permanent." - Sure but his company is a direct reason for that. Who's "we" in this case? Because people can't afford luxury games consoles or $30 a month services when essentials are also going up in price. The billionaire saying "Don't worry." Sure okay buddy.
"The first app we built was Flight Simulator." - Application or program, "app" is an Apple thing, time to disassociated yourself from that. ;-)
That's very true. But whenever somebody says App when not refering to an Apple product it just sounds cringey. Also in the USA we all called them programs up until Apple made iPhone apps a thing. So for the USA calling a program an app is still pretty lame.
Just go 3rd party already!! No one gonna miss this satanic shitty corp
Xbox management once again rising to its level of incompetence.
You can "monetize" Xbox all you want but until Xbox puts out great exclusives that actually revive the console to at least attempt to compete with the Playstation, nobody's gonna engage in a monetization system for unwanted games.
Halo 5 didnt live up to expectations in part because it was monetized too much.
