Microsoft has announced its first-quarter financial earnings for the period ended on September 30 and while the Entertainment and Devices Division, which houses the Xbox brand, is still in the black, it's not as rosy as Microsoft would have liked.
According to the report, shipments of Xbox 360 units dropped from 2.3 million, to 1.7 million year-on-year. This resulted in the Entertainment and Devices Division's revenues dipping to just $1.95 billion, while operating income dropped a rather significant 94 percent to just $19 million.
Microsoft is blaming the lackluster sales due not having any major videogame release in the same time period. Last year saw the release of Epic Games' Gears of War 3, which bolstered Xbox 360 sales.
Video game revenue decreased primarily due to the release of Gears of War 3 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 with no comparable major releases in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013.
As a whole, the Xbox 360 platform's revenue decreased 24 percent ($418 million) year-over-year, "due mainly to lower volumes of consoles sold and lower video game revenue, offset in part by higher Xbox LIVE revenue."
In a rather spot of good news, the life-to-date Xbox 360 unit sales has reached 70 million worldwide. Of course, cheeky gamers might attribute that to people having to buy multiple Xbox 360s due to the console's dreaded "Red Ring of Death" problem that plagued it early in its lifespan.
While things don't look all that good, it's worth noting that Halo 4 will see release on November 6. Call me presumptuous but I think it's safe to assume that will jumpstart Xbox 360 sales once again and should make its next financials report a tad better than what it is now.
Are you one of the 70 million Xbox 360 owners out there? If so, how many Xbox 360s have you bought before it finally stopped dying? All kidding aside, that's a rather significant number. Do you think Microsoft can replicate that with the Xbox 720?
Thanks, GamesIndustry
