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Xbox revenue up 6% year-on-year

Xbox revenue up 6% year-on-year

Microsoft's games business saw a six per cent increase in revenue year-on-year for the most recent quarter.

The Big M unveiled its financials for the three months ending March 31st, 2022, with the bulk of this growth coming from hardware. That segment of the Xbox business rose 14 per cent year-on-year, while content and services – aka games, subscriptions etc – rose just four per cent year-on-year.

Content and services revenue was "below expectations" according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella – as reported by Seeking Alpha – due to engagement dipping year-on-year. Still, revenue is "above pre-pandemic levels".

It's not all bad news though; Xbox's new Cloud Gaming business has been used by more than 10 million people to date, while Game Pass has seen a 45 per cent increase in the number of hours played year-on-year.

"To date, more than 10 million people have streamed games. Many of our most popular titles, including Flight Simulator are now accessible on phones, tablets, low-spec PCs for the first time," Nadella wrote.

"Our Game Pass library now includes hundreds of titles across PC and console, including more games from third-party publishers than ever before. Billions of hours have been played by subscribers over the past 12 months, up 45 per cent."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.