With Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) partner preview event now complete, a short post-mortem is in order to see how it all went. Sadly, investors weren’t quite on board with what they saw—though the partner preview wasn’t the only issue facing Microsoft investors today—and shares were down fractionally in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading.
The partner preview ran just over a half-hour, and in that time, Microsoft rolled out a hefty dozen or so trailers for upcoming games. Microsoft led off with Bandai Namco’s “Unknown 9: Awakening” and followed up with several impressive if obscure titles. Partners from Capcom to Riffraff Studios came out in full bloom to show off what would be coming in the next few months. Reception, meanwhile, varied from title to title; indeed, some players weren’t exactly pleased to see a Roblox-style title coming out with “Griefville x Chucky,” but other, more unique games were given the benefit of the doubt.
Not Everything Went So Smoothly
Meanwhile, Microsoft is facing some troubles on other fronts. Even as the partner preview brought out a mixed bag, Microsoft also discovered a problem that would be familiar to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL): issues with its AI. Specifically, one engineer recently warned Microsoft that its AI image generator could produce “…sexual and violent content.” While that may not be a problem for some, it certainly could be for others, and said engineer took the problems up the ladder.
It may be that Microsoft is discovering the other extreme; instead of presenting ultra-safe, sanitized, and highly diverse images (even when they shouldn’t be), Microsoft is seeing quite the opposite. Meanwhile, it’s also taking the fight to the New York Times (NYSE:NYT), comparing the development of AI to the rise of the VCR, noting that those, too, had a potential for copyright abuse but didn’t necessarily cause it by their mere existence.
What Is the Price Target of Microsoft Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 31 Buys, one Hold, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 59.02% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $468.70 per share implies 16.51% upside potential.
