June has long been a big month for gamers. Before COVID-19 nearly ruined the month, it was mostly for E3 (Electronics and Entertainment Expo), where every game coming out in the next year or so was supposed to be shown. Now that E3 is closed, and likely closed for good, companies are taking advantage of this long-memorable day to plan their own shows. Microsoft'sNasdaq:MSFT) is scheduled for early June, and the tech giant's stock rose partially towards the end of Tuesday's trading.
The first big advancement for Xbox will be tied to Microsoft's larger AI ambitions. AI will be coming to “Minecraft” as well as other Xbox and PC games, allowing the game to not only check your inventory but also provide hints and guides based on problems it finds.
Take Minecraft for example: a player might want to make a wooden shovel, the game will use AI to check the player's inventory, and if it sees that the player doesn't have any wood, it will tell the player to go punch a tree, because that's how you get wood in Minecraft.
Of course, it's still early days – one has to wonder just how much storage the Xbox Series X and Series S will require in an already tight space – but it could still be an interesting development.
Will the new Xbox arrive sooner than expected?
Meanwhile, in a rumor worthy of a “pre-E3 leak,” there are reports that a new Xbox could arrive sooner rather than later. Previous reports suggested that the next generation Xbox could arrive in his 2028 year. The latest reports suggest that Microsoft is keen to jump on Sony (NYSE:Sony) and its PlayStation 6 hit the market ahead of Sony's system.
After all, this is how Microsoft was able to gain an advantage over Sony when the Xbox 360 was launched. It outperformed Sony in the market and gained a corresponding first-mover advantage. Currently, Microsoft is aiming to launch a new Xbox by his 2026 year, as well as a bit of a hardware refresh, but that seems unlikely. But something strange happened.
Is Microsoft a buy, sell or hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus on MSFT stock, based on 32 Buys and 1 Hold assignments over the past three months, as shown in the chart below. I am rating it. MSFT's average price target of $491.56 per share implies an upside potential of 14.56%, after the stock has increased 34.65% over the past year.
disclosure
