Xbox boss Phil Spencer is busy doing the rounds following today's Xbox Games Showcase 2023, and something he mentioned as part of a press briefing is that the brand is doing much better than it was during the Xbox 360 generation.
As highlighted by GamesIndustry.biz, Spencer pointed out that a lot of people look back at the Xbox 360 era as the glory days, but from a revenue standpoint, Xbox is actually twice as big of a business as it was back then:
"I often get asked 'how are you doing?' I'll get people who will harken back, some people in this room, to the Xbox 360 years as being the heyday of Xbox. And I was there, and I love what Xbox 360 meant for where we are today. But for you to understand, our business right now, from a revenue standpoint, is about twice the size it was during the Xbox 360 generation."
Spencer went on to talk about how Xbox has more players than ever right now, while also noting that Microsoft's last quarter was the "biggest non-holiday gaming quarter in the history of us being in the gaming business." Finally, he also mentioned that the team is going to do $1 billion in PC revenue this year.
Despite the impressive figures, Spencer explained that the main way Xbox measures success is through how many people are "playing our games", hyping up the fact that the portfolio now boasts over 150 million monthly players.
What are your thoughts about Spencer's comments here? Tell us down below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 15
But apparently Xbox is failing and Microsoft is going to close it down.
Reminder, people online aren't experts in business.
15 years, a massive bout of inflation, price hikes across the board and they are doing better than the 360? Impressive.
Also you are fired.
People will still look at sales figures and try to convince us xbox is doomed. Seems like a lot of people are stuck in the 360 era of gaming.
From the gamer pov the 360 was better with its bundled headsets. Great gears of war games, mass effect 1. I'm hoping starfield and a new fable will make it feel like those days again
A massive chunk of the Xbox storefront's library two console Gens later is just ports, remasters, remakes, & collections of games from the 360-PS3 Era - of course you're seeing double the revenue, because every company is reselling the same games. Would be veeery interesting to see just how well the Xbox One & Series originals contribute to that vs the legacy games. But companies only see bigger number, not how or why number bigger... so new thing best thing and old thing was never good.
No one does corporate speak better than Phil Spencer, he's in a league of his own.
I could care less about how much they make, I wanna see some innovation.
And unfortunately when they see bigger numbers they have no reason to innovate.
As long as those numbers keep going up at a steady rate we'll be seeing more of the same. No VR, no gyro controllers, just an underpowered closed PC in a plastic box, and buyers who'll keep buying what they're told to.
@Fishticon I would argue Starfield is innovation. Also the new Kojima game is bonkers innovative. You could really argue Microsoft is the most innovative…
VR is way too expensive to pursue when you are gobbling up $69B companies.
The controller issue is on point….
Great, now xbox can shut up about how they need to buy every publisher in the industry to compete.
@Fishticon that was my experience. Verbatim this was our conversation.
Microsoft: Cashews buy our console.
Cashews: If I must then Yes Microsoft!
Viva Pinata, Dance Central, Banjo-Kazooie, I loved the casual games on Xbox 360, and I think there is still more to do on Xbox today.
Games are costing nearly double now and fewer are buying Used games than they were in the 360 era - thanks to Digital purchases. More games also have 'extra' content DLC add-ons/expansions, MTX cosmetics/in-game currency etc so I am not surprised the 'revenue' is higher.
On top of that, Microsoft has merged 'Xbox' from its 'separate side business focussed on console only into their main business. That means that their gaming revenue isn't 'just' coming from their Console ecosystem (like it was in the 360 era), but across PC and Cloud too. You don't 'need' a Series S/X to play 'Xbox' as these are optional ways to access Xbox. They may be the best 'bang for buck' or suit their budget/preference option for some, but not the 'ONLY' gaming revenue source for MS.
Therefore its not surprising that 'revenue' is doubled....
@Fishticon The 'Xbox' was originally designed to bring PC gaming to the Living Room. The name itself comes from it being a 'MS DirectX Box' for gaming and was internally called the DirectX Box (or Xbox) for short and that name ended up sticking.
MS ran Xbox as a 'side' project until about 2016 when they merged it into MS and Xbox became their Windows 'Gaming' division brand name. Its 'Xbox' on Windows PC, same 'Xbox' Gamer Tag and why Game Pass Ultimate, Play Anywhere Purchases etc work across both PC and Console - because its ALL part of the same Ecosystem.
As for 'underpowered' PC - I'd challenge you to build a PC to match the specs of a Console - including Case, RAM, CPU, Cooling, 1TB SSD, Ports, Controller, HDMI 2.1 leads etc - everything you get for $500.
VR is still very Niche and Gyro controllers are not essential or necessary either. I bet few actually use these on PS5 - but its a USP for Sony if those 'really' matter to you. Personally, I'm happy with MS focusing on bringing games that 'everyone' can play on ANY device rather than make games that only a handful will play on VR headsets.
Xbox Consoles are just part of a bigger ecosystem. Cloud is the Entry tier (low cost, small library but can play anywhere), Series S (low hardware cost, bigger Library and better PQ/Performance) is the 'entry' hardware tier, Series X (Premium Hardware tier comparable to PS5) but these 3 are 'locked' to MS with PC beng the 'highest' Tier and not locked to MS but still part of the MS 'Windows DirectX' gaming ecosystem.
"from a revenue standpoint"
(1) Revenue, does not deduct any costs or expenses associated with operating the business.
(2) it's possible for a company to generate revenue but have a net loss.
So a quick luck shows that the US games industry has grown 125% in the last 10 years (just at the end of the 360). So that would mean revenues haven't kept up with industry growth.
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