Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Microsoft (MSFT) impressed shareholders when it made its Q2 2022 earnings report, which showed that the company beat revenue and EPS expectations. However, there were also some impressive numbers in the gaming department. Microsoft’s Xbox division pulled in $16.28 billion in the 2021 calendar year, setting an all-time record for the company’s gaming business.
This information was reported by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad following the release of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Q2 2022 earnings report. Xbox’s $16.28 billion performance in 2021 is an all-time best for the company within a calendar year, although Microsoft doesn’t have a fiscal calendar year. This number topples 2020, which was the previous all-time high. Total gaming revenue was up 17% year-over-year. Hardware revenue was up 63.3% year-over-year, showing strong growth as more and more people get their hands on the Xbox Series X and Series S.
Content and services brought in $12.6 billion, showing an 8.8% increase year-over-year and accounting for 77% of Microsoft’s gaming revenue. Xbox Game Pass and first party games continued to lead the charge, once again increasing sales year-over-year. That said, sales of third-party games were on a decline year-over-year. Ahmad estimates that Xbox Series X/S sales are in the ballpark of 12 million units. Just last week we learned that Xbox Game Pass had surpassed 25 million subscriptions.
Microsoft shareholders are certainly happy with today’s news, and the numbers out of Xbox are promising for the future of the gaming ecosystem that’s constantly growing. With the recent news of the company’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, it will be interesting to monitor Microsoft’s (MSFT) gaming business in the future.