After announcing its intention to acquire gaming giant Activision-Blizzard for $68.7B earlier this year, all eyes have been on Microsoft’s gaming division and in-particular its console sales and Game Pass subscriber numbers. This week Microsoft announced its third-quarter earnings for it’s 2022 fiscal year and to the delight of its shareholders, Xbox revenue continued to climb. Hardware revenue grew 14% this quarter, continuing to build upon a strong trend in recent years that saw a surge of an incredible 232% in hardware revenue gains just last year. According to the NPD Group’s latest report, Xbox hardware also came in as the best-selling hardware platform of both March 2022 and the first quarter of 2022 in dollars, setting a new all-time high for Xbox hardware units sold and dollar sales in the month of March.
Microsoft has continued to invest in growing its Xbox content and services and was once again rewarded with a 4% increase in those areas this quarter. As previously stated by Xbox Executive Sarah Bond, Game Pass subscribers spend approximately 20% more time playing games and in turn play 30% more games, spending about 20% more on gaming overall. That 20% seems to be adding up as the revenue numbers continue to climb and the Game Pass subscriber count has already passed 25 million players. That number will only continue to grow as highly anticipated first-party titles Starfield, Avowed, Fable, and more launch directly into the service.
Gamers can get a glimpse at what is coming next this Summer when Xbox and Bethesda take the stage for their Games Showcase on Sunday, June 12th.
