Over the last several years, numerous big-name video game developers and publishers have bought out other companies to try and bolster their game development ranks and ensure that gamers come to their systems to get certain titles. The money being thrown around to do such things has been in the double-digit billions, and it’s made many gamers’ eyes go wide in shock. For Microsoft, one of their biggest acquisition was getting Bethesda, which is one of the best developers on the planet in the eyes of many. Starfield was their most recent title and one that was exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S and PC, and Microsoft hoped it would deliver big numbers for them.
On the positive side, they were right on that front. The latest quarterly data for Xbox has been revealed, and it states that the gaming division profits for Xbox rose about 9% year-to-year, with services like Xbox Games Pass also getting a boost year-to-year. The reason for that has been largely attributed to Starfield, and it’s not hard to see why, given that it was the “big game” for Xbox exclusively in that period.
However, if you look further at the data, you’ll see “offset” via the hardware sales numbers:
Yep, hardware sales for the Xbox Series X/S have dropped 7%, and it’s not that surprising to hear when you consider that the system doesn’t stack up to the PS5 in various hardware respects and doesn’t come close to the Nintendo Switch in software respects. Plus, while Bethesda’s game helped elevate them in the past quarter, they don’t really have anything striking coming out in the last few months of the year that would help drive up console sales or Game Pass purchases, putting the company in a bit of a sticky wicket.
The catch, as they would happily tell you, is that they do have bright things on the horizon. Not only is Bethesda cranking things out, but the finalized acquisition of Activision Blizzard will give them a potentially big boost in their game development departments. In fact, the CEO of Microsoft even said that with this purchase, they’re going to “double down” on their gaming division to ensure that they put out everything they want to and earn a bigger chunk in the gaming market.
Whether they’re able to pull that off is up in the air. Plus, it’s not like Sony and Nintendo will be “sitting around” doing nothing. Still, 2024 will be interesting to watch.
