The Xbox Series X continues to be Microsoft’s fastest selling console ever, but stock will remain limited until at least June.
Microsoft has had the clearest indication so far that its current game plan with Xbox Series X/S is working, as it’s gaming division saw revenues increase by 50% in the last three months, to $3.53 billion (£2.54bn).
Hardware sales shot up by a massive 232%, but then the Xbox Series X/S has already been confirmed as Microsoft’s most successful console launch ever.
Content and services revenue (i.e. first party games, Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold) also increased by 34%, although Microsoft didn’t report profits for the gaming division specifically – which likely means that they are losing money overall on Game Pass, given the expense of licensing new games.
The lack of any profit figures means it’s also impossible to gauge exactly what impact the $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda had, but since this still rates as the best quarter ever for Xbox (in the six years since they began reporting gaming revenues separately) it suggests Microsoft can easily afford it.
One massive purchase that is already paying its way is Minecraft, which Microsoft bought for $2.5 billion in 2014 and now has almost 140 million monthly active users – thanks to the lockdown, an increase of 30% on last year.
According to Microsoft, players have generated over $350 million ($252m) from more than one billion mods and add-ons over the three months until March 31.
As has been the case since the launch of the Xbox One, Microsoft doesn’t report hardware sales figures, but given the Xbox Series X quickly sells out whenever it appears that isn’t really relevant at the moment.
The only really bad news from the results is that Microsoft admits supply issues for the Xbox Series X/S will continue until at least June. Although the cheaper Xbox Series S has been increasingly easy to find in recent months.
This would be the best Q1 (FY Q3) for Microsoft’s gaming division since they started breaking out numbers about six years ago.
Hardware growth primarily due to the launch of Xbox Series X | S, which wasn’t a factor last year ofc.
Game Pass continues to grow.
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