Microsoft has just released its earning results for FY24 Q2 and Xbox's gaming revenue has experienced huge growth in the latest quarter, up by 49% year-over-year.
This growth is credited mostly to Microsoft securing Activision Blizzard, which closed last year on October 13, 2023. This latest figure factors in 44 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition.
Moving onto Xbox's content and services revenue - this sector has also received a massive boost, with revenue 61% year-over-year (including 55 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition) and hardware revenue has grown by 3%. It's also been highlighted how Microsoft's gaming is now its "third largest business" in this latest quarter, placing it ahead of Windows.
Microsoft, in general, had 62% growth in FY24 Q2, which is an 18% increase year-over-year. Just last week, Microsoft also reached a $3 trillion market cap for the first time in its history and was the second company to achieve this after Apple.
In the same week though, Microsoft has also cut 1,900 jobs across Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard teams - calling it a "painful decision" but a necessary one, so the leadership can "align on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure" that will support the "whole" of the growing business.
In terms of what's ahead for Xbox this year, at its recent Developer Direct showcase, it confirmed Avowed, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would all be coming to Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass this year.
New first-party titles joining Xbox and boosting its revenue now include series like Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft and Crash Bandicoot. The mobile developer King - known for series like Candy Crush, is also included in this growth.