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Microsoft's latest earnings report is in and although its gaming division's hardware business has suffered another decline, Xbox's "content and services" are up.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has now gone into a bit more detail, revealing how Game Pass has set a new quarterly record in terms of revenue - growing its PC subscriber base by over 30%.
The two games that have recently helped increase the subscriber count are (you guessed it) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Nadella also cited some records for each game, revealing how Indiana Jones has now been played by more than four million people:
"Black Ops 6 was the top-selling game on Xbox and PlayStation this quarter – and saw more players in its launch quarter than any other paid release in franchise history.
And we saw rave reviews of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which has already been played by more than 4 million people.
...All-up, Game Pass set a new quarterly record for revenue and grew its PC subscriber base by over 30%, as we focus on driving fully-paid subscribers across endpoints."
Nadella also reiterated the tech giant's plans with its gaming division which is to focus on "improving the profitability of the business" in order to better position it for "long-term growth, driven by higher-margin content and platform services".
"We are delivering on this plan."
So, there you go - although it's not great news on the hardware front, from the content and services side of the business, it looks like the plan is now in full swing following multiple major acquisitions. Nadella also mentioned how Cloud Gaming set new records during the latest quarter.
Did you contribute to the success of the new Call of Duty and Indiana Jones games? Have you subbed to Game Pass or extended your subscription recently? Let us know in the comments.
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[source microsoft.com]
Comments 31
I hope this doesn’t mean they’ll quit with indie games and niche stuff. Seems like they’re really buckling down on CoD and such.
That sounds more encouraging
Why do I feel like a bunch of the comments on here are gonna try and spin this into something negative?
to focus on improving the profitability of the business" in order to better position it for long-term growth, driven by higher-margin content and platform services
I hope they'll not forget us, the people who subscribe to GamePass for the wonderfully rich indie and A- AA content. Indiana Jones is fantastic too.
@YeyoFairy
are gonna try and spin this into something negative?
How else would they find purpose in visiting the site😉?
They would make more money without having almost every new game on subsidized gamepass day 1. Outright purchases for bigger titles like Starfield, COD [entry X], and the new Indiana Jones game to name a few.
I am surprised Indiana Jones was not played by more than 4 million people. That is shocking given it's a genuinely good game and only competition it had on GP was COD.
@Sol4ris id hope not either as AA indies have been a breath of fresh air when it comes to fun & innovative gameplay. But after the Ninja Gaiden 4 announcement. I'd have thought that even more devs including ones that didn't think of an Xbox version initially may change their tune if they get to release on all platforms & money up front for the Xbox & Games Pass release. It's a win for all involved.
That's great news they obviously need more pc players on gamepass to keep it going positive news!
I currently have Gamepass on PC, though I'm not sure I'll be keeping it. That said I'm enjoying Indiana Jones maxed out with path tracing, the one advantage of Xbox games on PC day 1, they tend to be way better versions than Playstation offers, I'm also trying out Ninja Gaiden 2, so for the time being it's worth it
We used to just enjoy games. Now it feels like we're at shareholder meetings 🤨
@Lrapsody
Thank you for saying this. I thought I was the only one that feels this way…
@Lrapsody Haha 🤣 your spot on there mate!
At the end of the day - whether that be on their own hardware/storefront or someone else's, local hardware or cloud, through sales or subscriptions - success is success.
Slightly more encouraging, but we already know PC Game Pass is their larger growth area, in part because it's still at significantly lower cost ($11.99 vs $19.99) for Day 1 games. That they deliberately don't say anything about console is telling, so both good and bad news.
@YeyoFairy The thing is Microsoft always cherry pick a few statistics that look best, so you have to read between the lines of what they DIDN'T say to get a wider picture of what is ACTUALLY going on. E.g. that they didn't mention anything about console growth is telling. Additionally this is the quarter of COD, if subs weren't up this month it would be a disaster. It’s not all bad news but it is mostly expected news, that’s not being negative, just being realistic.
@YeyoFairy The spin has arrived ⬆️⬆️ haha 😂
@jesse_dylan I don't think they will quit doing niche games. Just look at Grounded, Towerborne, South of Midnight, recently Everwild have surface again, so I think that is not going away.
@Ricky-Spanish It's not spin, it's having media literacy. For example they announced they ONLY raised services revenue by 2% yet this was the same quarter that they hiked Game Pass prices by around 20%.
If PC subs are up 30%, and they raised prices, but revenue is only up 2% then SOMETHING else must be significantly down, else it just doesn't add up.
If you want to believe everything they tell you is rosy gospel truth that's up to you, but you are missing what they aren't telling you.
@themightyant Not having a go buddy just a laugh better to look at the positives than search for the negatives but that's just me!
The question has to be how many of those new subscribers will stick around, or did they buy a month or three, played what they want, and then drop out again. Sure, it boosts the numbers at the time CoD & Indiana releases, but whether those people stick around is an entirely other matter...
PC sub count was small anyways, rumored to be just several millions. So 30% increase is like +1-2M total subs. I wonder if they reached 40M or not.
Pretty sure many people upgraded from GP core to GPU on consoles as well.
Anyways great news because GP is a cornerstone of xbox and basically guarantee to keep doing xboxes (as reportedly 80% of GP subs or so are on consoles)
@Fiendish-Beaver true and I think this is the first year where GP has releases not only thru the year but almost every month. I think thats how most sub services work - get you in with something hype and you stay because explore other stuff.
@YeyoFairy i really hope these people get paid by sony because doing this xbox hate and doom&gloom every single day on such posts should be at least a solid part-time job.
@themightyant most people on console already have GP in one form or another, hence less growth. GP revenues for sure grew due to COD in GP meaning there is less incentive to pay for GP core as updating to GPU makes more sense (unless you strictly want to play cod at min cost, then yeah buy the game + gp core is still cheaper).
I've seen quite a few ads for PC Game Pass on YouTube recently, but don't think I've seen a single ad for console Game Pass. They obviously think they are more likely to be able to grow PC subs than than console.
@themightyant you are forgetting that PC subs were always very low. it was rumored to be just several million on PC GP so 30% increase means maybe 1-2 extra M of total subs.
so math can be possible.
@Millionski They would still have to lose somewhere. If NOTHING else had changed and prices rose by an average 20% across Game Pass tiers we would expect to see around a 20% gain to revenue. Right? Even if PC subs are the minority, something else has to have shrunk for them to ONLY see a 2% increase.
I've been subbed for years and I've still got 15 months left on my sub, it's been nice to see the games keep coming and now is a good time to be a game pass sub!
I’m basically expecting people to turn this into a negative
Good news, the more Gamepass sales the better it is for all Gamepass owners, no matter where the growth comes from. People who talk about not great Gamepass growth on Console whilst not accounting for the fact they currently have lower consoles sales! lol.
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