According Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood, the Xbox brand is still an “incredibly powerful brand”, and is “fundamentally important” to the company.

　　Hood said this during the UBS Global Technology Conference – a conference to discuss the latest developments in the technology sector.

　　According Hood, Microsoft’s gaming category is quite profitable and she likes how Microsoft changed the landscape of what that looks like as a company.

　　"I would say gaming is fundamentally important. The Xbox brand is still an incredibly powerful brand; gaming PCs are amongst the most lucrative businesses to be in," she added. "Gaming as a category is quite profitable and I feel good about how we've changed the landscape of what that looks like as a company."

Windows ecosystem

　　"Xbox is financially relevant to Microsoft," Hood said. "People should not be confused about the journey of improvement we have been on in the past two years in the Xbox business."

　　The CFO praises Microsoft’s work on the Windows ecosystem that has been created for PC, Xbox and phones.

　　"I think about the importance of gaming. I would actually literally, very specifically talk about the importance of gaming to us; you've seen the investments we've made; you've seen us talk about gaming and its importance across all form factors for us, be it the PC, be it a phone, be it the console itself," she said. "I think we've done a very good job of taking something that sort of sat outside the Windows ecosystem and made it part of the Windows ecosystem. So that gaming value accrues back to the ecosystem and to the developers who work there”.

　　Recently, Microsoft reported growth in Xbox Live usage and according the company’s CEO nearly half of the Xbox One user base uses the service.

　　Thanks you Gamespot.