Despite declining console sales, gaming revenues at Microsoft increase by 43%! Money is flowing freely thanks to this segment

Game news Despite declining console sales, gaming revenues at Microsoft increase by 43%! Money is flowing freely thanks to this segment

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Console sales are falling at Microsoft…

When we think of the three major players in the video game market: Sony, Microsoft et Nintendoit might sometimes seem like Microsoft is a bit behind the times. Indeed, while Sony and Nintendo stand out either with high-quality exclusive games or with particularly innovative consoles (or even both for Nintendo), Microsoft chooses instead to put an end to the exclusives and not to highlight the section too much. hardware of its gaming branch. An impression which is confirmed in a certain way when we look at the sales figures.

Indeed, according to an article in The VergeMicrosoft’s expected revenues for the first quarter of 2025 are finally available, and the numbers fool no one: Xbox Series and Xbox One sales are down significantly. The newspaper reports a fall of no less than 29% regarding overall Xbox hardware sales, which is generally not good news. However, to fully understand Microsoft’s strategy, you actually have to look at revenues as a whole.

… But revenues increase by 43%!

Because yes, despite this drastic drop in hardware sales at Xbox, the overall sales figures for Microsoft’s gaming branch are actually excellent! Indeed, still according to the article from The Verge, we note a 43% increase in revenues from the gaming branch of the Redmond firm compared to last year. Good news for the American manufacturer which is mainly explained by another increase: that of revenues linked to Xbox content and associated services.

In other words, if Microsoft’s hardware revenues are falling, software revenues are skyrocketing. For example, we note a 61% increase in revenue for all things Xbox content and related serviceswhich includes for example revenue linked to Xbox Game Pass or game sales. No doubt for Microsoft, the person responsible for this increase is none other than l’acquisition d’Activision-Blizzard. According to them, the net impact of this acquisition is estimated at 53%. Note that these figures do not include the arrival of Call of Duty : Black Ops 6 which has just been released, but include the arrival of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III in Game Pass for example. You will understand, even if they don’t sell many consoles, the strategy of Xbox and Microsoft seems to be paying off well. Knowing that 2025 will also be the year of big titles from the firm like Fable or DOOM: The Dark Ages, we imagine that the future will be bright for Phil Spencer.