It hasn’t been a great 12 months for Xbox to this point. Microsoft has launched its earnings report for the quarter ending on September 30, and it has revealed that its income from the Xbox {hardware} fell by 30 p.c year-over-year. Take word that the income decline would not mirror any dip in gross sales attributable to the console’s $20-to-$70 worth hike, since that took impact on October 3. Similarly, Microsoft solely raised the value for its Game Pass Ultimate subscription from $20 to $30 in October.
Meanwhile, income from Xbox content material and providers remained comparatively unchanged from the identical interval final 12 months. Microsoft says it noticed progress from Xbox subscriptions and third-party content material, but it surely was “partially offset” by the decline in first-party gaming content material.
The Xbox division was one of the crucial affected groups when Microsoft began reducing down its world workforce earlier this 12 months, with the corporate cancelling video games that had been being developed for the console. Microsoft scrapped the trendy reimagining of Perfect Dark, a first-person shooter from the 12 months 2000, and even closed down the Xbox studio engaged on it. The firm additionally cancelled Everwild, a undertaking that had lengthy been in improvement by Xbox studio Rare, additionally within the midst of its mass layoffs.
Overall, Microsoft’s $77.7 billion income was 17 p.c increased in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months, and its working revenue was up by 22 p.c. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted a couple of highlights in regards to the firm’s earnings name on X, largely specializing in its AI efforts. He mentioned that the corporate will enhance its AI capability by 80 p.c this 12 months and can double its information middle footprint over the subsequent two.