Microsoft has revealed that its gaming revenue fell by 13% year-over-year during the holiday season.
The company, which is currently in a battle over its attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, said on Tuesday during its quarterly earnings call that the gaming revenue had fallen from $5.44 million to $4.76 million. In addition to gaming revenue as a whole, the company’s hardware revenue also fell by 13% year-over-year. Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, fell by 12%.
All of the data ranges from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022. It also wasn’t an expected decline as Amy Hood, the company’s chief financial officer, said back in October that Microsoft expected a decline around the amount that was seen.
Why Did Xbox Gaming Revenue Fall?
During the call, Microsoft stated that the decrease in revenue could be attributed to “a strong prior year comparable”. It was also stated that it was “partially offset by growth in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions”. The company didn’t state what those subscription numbers were, however.
The announcement of the revenue numbers comes on the heels of Microsoft announcing that it will be laying off 10,000 employees. Of those 10,000, a number of them are involved in the Xbox gaming division, including at studios like Bethesda and 343 Industries. Microsoft was adamant, though, that plans at its gaming studios weren’t going to change.
In a bit of good news, however, the company announced during its earnings call that Xbox monthly active users hit a record high during the fiscal second quarter of 2023.
“We saw new highs for [Xbox] Game Pass subscriptions, game streaming hours, and monthly active devices,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said when talking about gaming revenue. “And monthly active users surpassed a record 120 million during the quarter.”
For more Insider Gaming, check out our story on the upcoming launch of Goldeneye 007 for Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
