Game Not Yet Over for Xbox Music?

Following Microsoft’s recent announcement of 18,000 job losses, it seems that the company may also make a move to streamline its ‘Xbox music’ streaming service, launched in 2012 and accessed through video game consoles, web browsers and tablets.

During Microsoft’s report of its fiscal Q4 performance, CEO Satya Nadella stated that the company expected to streamline “investments in music and video”.

Many have taken this to mean that the company may close its streaming platform. A subsequent report from Billboard suggests that this isn’t the case though it has to be said that despite a catalogue of 30m songs, the service hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in what is an increasingly overcrowded streaming market.

The job losses are the largest ever cuts announced by Microsoft, with 12, 500 from within its Nokia devices and services business, acquired for $5bn earlier this year.

Microsoft also recently stopped bundling the ‘Kinect’ motion sensor with its Xbox One console, reportedly doubling sales in the US as a result– Indicative that the company is taking a long, hard look at all aspects of its business.

In other streaming news, Amazon has expanded its Prime music service, adding thousands of additional tracks from the likes of Nick Cave and Skrillex alongside hundreds of freshly curated playlists. Despite this, the service, which is bundled in with an Amazon Prime subscription, doesn’t feature any tracks from artists signed to Universal Music and is yet to do a deal with the major.