
Microsoft’s newest monetary outcomes reveal that Xbox console gross sales are down a calamitous 29% over Christmas, with Call Of Duty boosting Game Pass by solely a fraction.
Just yesterday, Microsoft was revealed to be the largest online game writer on this planet, primarily – certainly, virtually solely – due to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, which was essentially the most profitable entry within the sequence to date.
You would’ve thought, and definitely it was Microsoft’s fervent hope, that the truth that Black Ops 6 was accessible on Game Pass from day one, for no extra value, would’ve given a significant increase to the service.
But simply as Starfield had little to no have an effect on on Game Pass numbers neither did Black Ops 6, with Microsoft’s outcomes displaying a rise of simply 2%. At the identical time {hardware} gross sales fell by 29% and total gaming income was down 7%, over the important October to December quarter of final 12 months.
Microsoft’s gaming division – which now contains Activision Blizzard and Bethesda – made $6.6 billion (£5.3bn) in income over the past three months, which was down $530 million (£426m) on the identical time final 12 months.
That’s fairly stunning contemplating 2023’s Call Of Duty was the significantly much less standard Modern Warfare 3 however the underlying downside is that console gross sales proceed to freefall and with out that Microsoft’s video games enterprise is little extra than simply Activision with a brand new hat on.
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella tried to make the very best of the leads to the corporate’s earnings name, with some very rigorously cherry-picked stats, resembling PC Game Pass subscriptions being up 30%.
Clearly that had little have an effect on on the general Game Pass outcomes, with the current subscription value rises doubtless that means that console numbers decreased in comparison with 2023 – though it’s not possible to know for positive as Microsoft nonetheless refuses to offer figures for subscriber numbers or console gross sales, which tells its personal story.
However, in accordance with analyst group Ampere, PC subscriptions account for not more than 16% of the whole.
Nadella additionally revealed that 4 million individuals have performed Indiana Jones And The Great Circle since its launch in December. However, that determine contains Game Pass gamers and doesn’t point out what number of purchased it individually – though the sport’s gross sales will little question spike later within the 12 months although, when it’s launched on PlayStation 5.
He additionally acknowledged that Xbox Cloud Gaming noticed a file 140 million hours streamed in the course of the quarter, insisting that, ’We are targeted on bettering the profitability of the enterprise, with the intention to place it for long-term progress, pushed by higher-margin content material and platform providers.’
Nadella didn’t deal with any of the detrimental gross sales outcomes or give any indication of what was going to be performed about falling console gross sales and their affect on Game Pass subscriptions. Although it’s value noting that the weak console gross sales outcomes from 2023 are what precipitated the present makes an attempt to embrace multiformat publishing.

Given how little have an effect on the PC enhance had on the general Game Pass outcomes it means that the discharge of Black Ops 6 had even much less affect on Game Pass subscribers than it first appears, which is disastrous information for Microsoft.
Call Of Duty was their final card to play, by way of particular person titles that may drastically enhance curiosity in Game Pass, and whereas they’re hoping that its affect will change into extra apparent in subsequent months there’s actually no signal of it for the time being.
The downside, as we outlined in a current article, is that almost all of Game Pass subscribers are Xbox console homeowners and with {hardware} gross sales bottoming out there may be little or no capability for future progress.
Indeed, subscriber numbers are more likely to fall if present Xbox homeowners abandon the console or change to the PlayStation 6 within the subsequent era.
Microsoft will little question focus extra on PC sooner or later however their emphasis on streaming relies on Wi-Fi infrastructure over which they haven’t any management, making it very troublesome to guess when it would change into a extra mainstream concern.
Although the Xbox console enterprise has declined two generations in a row, with the Xbox Series X/S plateauing much more rapidly than the Xbox One, Microsoft has no possibility however to proceed to help its {hardware} enterprise or it should lose the vast majority of its present Game Pass subscribers.
Xbox has already introduced a subsequent gen console, amidst fixed hints at a conveyable gadget, however there’s nonetheless no clear thought after they’ll be launched or, extra importantly, why Microsoft thinks they may succeed the place its final two consoles have failed.

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