The Xbox Series X|S duality continue to generate a positive new wave for Microsoft, as their great sales performance has yet to deteriorate.
Industry analyst @BenjiSales on Twitter quoted Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, mentioned during Microsoft’s recent Earnings Call that these systems “continue to be the fastest-selling Xbox consoles ever released.” In addition, he confirmed that the sales of both systems combined has allowed the Xbox Series platform to be the “market leader in sales for Next-Gen Platforms for three quarters in a row in North America.”
According to the company’s earnings report for Fiscal Year 2022, obtained by The Verge, Microsoft’s gaming revenue decreased by 7% ($259 million) when compared to the trends during the same period back in FY2021. In addition, hardware revenue has fallen by 11% and Xbox content and service revenue took a 6% dive.
Many factors are listed as reasons for this. The most obvious being the supply constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic which have yet to be fully rectified. The other being that, as with most consoles, the excitement after the initial launch period tends to decrease a bit and thus sales trends even out.
Where there are falls, there are rises, however. Nadella mentioned that Xbox Cloud Gaming’s reach is continuing to expand, having grown higher than the 10 million figure that was last provided; a new exact customer count has yet to be mentioned, however. The same is true for a number count for Xbox Game Pass subscribers; the last update brought that number to 25 million, as of January 2022.
Whenever the issues surrounding the global supply chain finally subside, all of the big three console makers (and tech companies as a whole) are bound to see an uptick in sales. The Nintendo Switch has been continuing to do well despite its age, and demand surrounding the PS5 has, of course, not waned at all.
All things considered, it appears that all of the console makers are rather healthy in this period of time.
