Xbox (division)

Xbox (stylized in all caps), formerly Microsoft Gaming, is the video game and digital entertainment division of Microsoft, an American multinational technology company based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in 2022. Its five development and publishing labels consist of: Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks (publishing label of ZeniMax Media), Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King (publishing labels of Activision Blizzard). It produces the namesake video game consoles and services, in addition to overseeing production and sales, and is led by CEO Asha Sharma. Prior to 2022, Microsoft had several different video game-related product lines, including Xbox hardware, Xbox operations, and game development studios. Microsoft Gaming was created with the announcement of Microsoft's plans to acquire Activision Blizzard to unify all of Microsoft's gaming groups within a single division. With the completion of the Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023, Microsoft became one of the largest gaming companies, the third-by revenue. The company employs approximately 14,000 people worldwide, making it one of the largest employers in the video game industry. The company has 100 million daily active players across all gaming platforms. The division owns intellectual property for some of the most popular, best-selling, and highest-grossing media franchises of all time, including Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, Halo, Minecraft, and The Elder Scrolls.