Microsoft's video game business saw slow but steady gains in the third quarter of fiscal year 2022.
Microsoft's third-quarter financial results are chock full of growing revenue for the owner of Xbox, and offer a look into the console's performance (as well as the company's overall video game business) a little over a year after the release of the Xbox Series X|S.
In the three-month period March 31, 2022, Microsoft pulled in $49.4 billion in revenue, up 18 percent from the same quarter last year. $14.5 billion of that revenue came from "more personal computing, where its Xbox and video game businesses reside."
The company also raked in $16.7 billion in profit (up 8 percent from last year using GAAP accounting methods).
But how are those GAMES doing? Okay! They're doing just okay. Buried in its investor slides, the company announced that Xbox hardware revenue grew 14 percent year-over-year, showing that Xbox sales are still chugging along as the console enters its second year.
Revenue from Xbox content and services (games, Game Pass, Xbox Live) grew more slowly, only increasing 4 percent from the same quarter last year. Growth here was apparently stalled by "a lack of third-party titles." Game Pass revenue and first-party titles like Halo Infinite apparently drove performance in this segment.
Overall game revenue (which includes revenue from games on PC) grew $207 million (6 percent) from third quarter 2021.
Microsoft did note that these numbers have to be compared against a "strong prior year," aka the months following its brand new console launch.
With these slow, steady gains, Microsoft must have had a quiet quarter for video games right? Nothing...else happened? The Activision Blizzard acquisition announcement doesn't make an appearance in the company's earnings. Should the acquisition go through, this section will probably look much rosier next year, even though Activision Blizzard itself is having a bit of a financial stumble right now (not helped by the numerous lawsuits against the company for allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination).
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