In the game "Sea of Thieves" the player assumes the role of a pirate who completes voyages for different trading companies.
Released in 2018 and published by Microsoft Studios, the game "offers the essential pirate experience, packed to the seams with sailing and exploring, fighting and plundering, riddle solving and treasure hunting – everything you need to live the pirate life you’ve always dreamed about," the software giant said.
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"Sea of Thieves" was the most downloaded game for PlayStation 5 on the PS Store for the month of May in the EU, U.S. and Canada, according to Sony (SONY) .
The game was originally an Xbox console exclusive when it released but was ported to PlayStation this past April, The Fly said.
Meanwhile, in Washington Microsoft (MSFT) President Brad Smith was being grilled by Congress about the pirates of the internet, better known as hackers.
A House homeland security panel on Thursday asked Smith about the tech giant's security practices and ties to China, Reuters reported, a year after alleged China-linked hackers spied on federal emails by hacking the firm.
The hackers accessed 60,000 U.S. State Department emails by breaking into Microsoft's systems last summer, while Russia-linked cybercriminals separately spied on Microsoft's senior staff emails this year, according to the company's disclosures.
Executive cites 'formidable foes'
The congressional hearing comes amid increasing federal scrutiny over Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, which is also a key vendor to the U.S. government and national security establishment. Microsoft's business accounts for around 3% of the U.S. federal IT budget, Smith said at the hearing.
Lawmakers cited a report in April by the Cyber Safety Review Board — a group of experts formed by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas — which slammed Microsoft for its lack of transparency over the China hack, calling it preventable.
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The report found that the intrusion by Storm-0558, a hacking group assessed to be affiliated with China, was preventable.
“We accept responsibility for each and every finding in the CSRB report,” Smith said at the hearing, adding that Microsoft had begun acting on most of the report's recommendations.
Smith said Microsoft’s business in China served American interests by protecting the trade secrets of Microsoft’s American customers operating there and learning from what’s going on in the rest of the world.
He added that Microsoft had denied Chinese government requests to turn over sensitive information.
“We're dealing with formidable foes in China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and they're getting better,” said Smith. “They're getting more aggressive. ... They're waging attacks at an extraordinary rate.”
A ProPublica investigation found that found Microsoft repeatedly rebuffed Andrew Harris, a company engineer, who beginning in 2017 had warned that a product flaw left millions of users vulnerable to attack, including federal employees.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition, news reports earlier this month said the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are set to open antitrust investigations into Microsoft, OpenAI, and AI-chip kingpin Nvidia NVDA, examining the powerful companies’ influence on the artificial intelligence industry.
These issues come at a crucial time in Microsoft's history.
Analyst: 'Microsoft leading AI revolution'
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is betting the software giant's future on the potential of artificial intelligence, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft has a multibillion investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, but Nadella has been reportedly spreading his bets in an effort to turn the world’s biggest company into the world’s most aggressive amasser of AI talent, tools and technology.
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Nadella has been hunting down new partners around the globe and has invested in a range of AI startups, including $1.5 billion into an Abu Dhabi-based firm in April.
The chief executive, the Journal reported, has also begun building what amounts to an in-house OpenAI competitor inside Microsoft — potentially putting it on a collision course with its most important partner.
The payoff could be substantial, with some analysts predicting that AI will create a $1 trillion+ market within a decade.
"We offer the most diverse selection of AI accelerators, including the latest from Nvidia, AMD (AMD) , as well as our own first-party silicon," Nadella told analysts during the company's third-quarter earnings call in April.
"Our AI innovation continues to build on our strategic partnership with OpenAI, more than 65% of the Fortune 500 now use Azure OpenAI service."
AI was on the mind of Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth, who raised the firm's price target on Microsoft to $550 from $475 and affirmed a buy rating on the shares.
Through the ongoing integration of generative AI functionality throughout its software stack and products, Microsoft is "increasingly positioned to lead the AI revolution," said Feinseth, who noted that the company's increased price target represents a potential return with dividends of more than 25% from current levels.
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