Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. In addition, the company also markets both computer hardware products and home entertainment products such as the Xbox and Xbox 360.

The company was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft entered the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo in late 2001, with the release of the Xbox, followed by its seventh-generation successor, the Xbox 360 in 2005. The company also develops and publishes its own video games for its consoles, with the help of its Microsoft Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to third-party Xbox video game publishers such as Activision and Electronic Arts, who pay a license fee to publish games for the system.