Xbox revenue rises even as hardware sales fall
Even as the Microsoft is reluctant to share the exact number of units sold, the company’s most recent earnings report can give us a fairly good idea of how Xbox is doing.In the earnings report for the quarter ending on December 31 (via Gamespot) Microsoft shared that revenue from gaming was up 5% over last year, a solid $192 million. This comes even as hardware sales were down 9%. Microsoft explained the drop, pointing to fewer Xbox 360s being sold and the reduced price of the Xbox One compared to what it had been selling at previously.
Even as the Microsoft is reluctant to share the exact number of units sold, the company’s most recent earnings report can give us a fairly good idea of how Xbox is doing.
In the earnings report for the quarter ending on December 31 (via Gamespot) Microsoft shared that revenue from gaming was up 5% over last year, a solid $192 million. This comes even as hardware sales were down 9%. Microsoft explained the drop, pointing to fewer Xbox 360s being sold and the reduced price of the Xbox One compared to what it had been selling at previously.
Despite this, revenue was still up however due to a massive 47% climb in revenue from game sales, heavily contributed to Halo 5 and the continued high sales Minecraft. Additionally, there was a 24% spike in revenue from Xbox Live.
Explaining the Xbox Live revenue increase, Microsoft stated that not only had monthly subscriptions hit 48 million, 30% over last year, but there was also a general rise in digital game sales. Gamers are not only buying more digital games, but are spending more on each purchase, something that can be expected as the number of people purchasing AAA games digitally increases.
While we don’t have exact numbers for Xbox Ones sold, a bit of reasoning from the reported Windows 10 suggests the number was around 18 million earlier this month. Around the same time, Sony announced PS4 sales had reached 36 million worldwide.