Microsoft news recap: Discord Voice available to everyone on Xbox consoles, Microsoft Cloud may reach $100 billion annual revenue, and more

Microsoft news recap is a weekly feature highlighting the top Microsoft news stories of the past week. Sit back, grab some coffee, and enjoy the read!

Xbox head Phil Spencer responds to latest Activision deal criticism

Sony has claimed that even if Call of Duty remained on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it would still stifle competition as the title would be on Xbox Game Pass, giving players the choice of playing CoD on with a Game Pass subscription or paying $70 per game to play on PlayStation. In response, Xbox’s Phil Spencer said:

When I look at something like Game Pass specifically, I think it’s the output of competition in our market.

Competition is about driving competitors to innovate, driving competitors to do new things like cloud, like subscriptions, like building new intellectual property. And everything we’ve been focused on is how do we compete effectively, how do we deliver more value to our customers.

$MSFT's @XboxP3 talks #Tencent, #JRPG's, and @discord – and explains why it's not time to follow $SONY's hike in prices. #Xbox #PlayStation pic.twitter.com/BCIY0wE8Gt

— Squawk Asia (@asiasquawkbox) September 16, 2022

Microsoft plans to head to the clouds with Azure Space

Microsoft has an ambitious plan to take Azure to the clouds with Azure Space, and this week announced 3 ways that it’s working to achieve its goal:

1. Announcing the Azure Orbital Cloud Access Preview
   • A brand-new service that brings the power of the Microsoft Cloud to wherever you need it most.
2. Announcing the General Availability of Azure Orbital Ground Station
   • Since the launch of Azure Space in October 2020, we have talked about Azure Orbital Ground Station. Today, alongside our partner network, including KSAT, we are making this service available to all satellite operators, such as Pixxel, Muon Space, and Loft Orbital.
3. Advancing the digital transformation of satellite communication networks
   • The first demonstration of a fully virtualized iDirect modem.
   • Together with SES we are announcing a new joint satellite communications virtualization program.

Discord Voice now available to everyone on Xbox Consoles

All players across Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles can now take part in group channels or voice calls with the addition of Discord Voice.

Microsoft Cloud could reach $100 Billion annual revenues this year

A recent prediction says that Microsoft Cloud could reach the $100 billion annual revenue mark by the end of this year, despite slowing growth year over year and Microsoft missing its previous target by a hair.

That’s it for this week. We will be back next week with more Microsoft news.