The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has been good to Microsoft, with the tech firm reporting record engagement with its Xbox Live service.
In a call with investors to report its Q3 2020 results – as transcribed by Seeking Alpha – CEO Satya Nadella (pictured) said that the online platform had seen around 90m monthly active users (MAUs). Microsoft has stopped reporting this figure for Xbox Live as of Q1 2020 – despite the service showing growth – but the platform previously boasted 65m MAUsv.
Nadella also reported that Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service now had over 10m subscribers. Meanwhile, the beta of the Project xCloud streaming platform is available in seven countries and is set to launch in eight more in the near future.
Overall, revenue from Microsoft's games business dropped by one per cent year-on-year, but "content and services" – i.e. software – saw a two per cent growth on the previous 12 months. Nadella says this is due to Game Pass subscribers and spending in Minecraft.
The overall division decline will be due to the slow in sales of Xbox One hardware as we approach the launch of the brand new Xbox Series X at the end of 2020.
Speaking recently, Xbox boss Phil Spencer had said that the coronavirus pandemic had brought in a "big flood" of new people to its ecosystem, though said it didn't want to be seen as taking advantage of the catastrophe.
