Microsoft had its latest financial call last night and with it, financials for Xbox in 2021 have been revealed. Financially, 2021 was the best year Xbox has ever had. The Xbox division reported $16.28 billion in revenue from January-December 2021, a 17.7% increase on 2020, which was also a record. Almost all of Xbox’s financial metrics were up in 2021. One of the most interesting of which was console sales. In 2021, revenue from the sale of Xbox consoles was up a massive 63.3% compared to 2020. Of course, the Xbox Series X and S didn’t release until the end of 2020, but it’s still a very impressive statistic for Microsoft.
The increase in hardware sales was driven by demand for the Xbox Series X and S. The Xbox Series S is credited with doing better than expected and Microsoft increasing production of the console was able to fulfill some of the next-gen sales demand. Combined, the Xbox Series X and S now sit at 12 million consoles sold. Although that is still quite far behind the PlayStation 5 which currently sits at over 18 million consoles sold. Regardless, the Xbox Series of consoles is the fastest-selling in the history of the brand.
Microsoft also announced that there are now over 25 million Game Pass subscribers. Game Pass is included in Xbox’s “Content & Services” which accounts for 77% of the total revenue for the division. Revenue for content and services was up 8.8% compared to 2020 at $12.6 billion. That dwarfs the revenue from hardware which was $3.7 billion, even with the 63.3% increase. It’s clear why Microsoft sees services like Game Pass as the future of Xbox.
Game Pass has been an incredible success for Xbox. Both Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 have set records for the number of players because of the service.