While Microsoft's next video game console waits in the wings for an expected reveal this year, its seven-and-a-half year old Xbox 360 is still helping drive revenues.
Microsoft reported revenues in the Xbox's Entertainment and Devices Division of $2.53 billion for the quarter ended March 31, a 56 percent increase over the same quarter a year prior. A $380 million "video game deferral" -- an advance against November 2012's launch of
Halo 4 -- brought the adjusted revenue increase down to 33 percent.
While that's all well and good, it's Microsoft's cloud computing strategy that the company has really been banking on. This includes online-centric services like Office 365, Windows Azure, Skype and of course, Xbox Live. Speaking of which, Xbox Live membership saw an 18 percent bump to 46 million subscribers during the quarter.
For the quarter, the Xbox division saw a swing to operating profits of $342 million, up from a $228 million loss during the same quarter a year ago.
Total Microsoft revenues were $20.5 billion for the quarter, an 18 percent increase. That's just shy of analyst estimates, who were counting on Microsoft to get pounded by tepid PC hardware and Windows 8 sales. Overall Profits were $6.1 billion, up 19 percent. A boost in after hours share prices show that investors are relatively pleased.
See Microsoft's
full report here.
