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MS/Xbox Earnings Call for Q1 2022 (Calendar Year)

Hezekiah

Banned
Yeah, again, nothing specific. Some percentages and an attempt to pass off revenue as something meaningful.


Again, we will have to wait for Sony's financial report, where literally every number will be explained and calculated
Yes, exactly. Is their a date for Sony's earnings call?
 
whispers.... guys.. gamepass is a system seller and clearly very successful. And btw because I often hear this brought up about revenue and profit.

Revenue is still money you can do a LOT of shit with folks. Anyone in any kind of management roll in business knows this. They don't report it for their health, it's an important data point on business health. The more revenue you're bringing in the more money you have to play with for a variety of your ongoing operations. Banks also love revenue because the more revenue you're bringing in, depending on how you're running your operations, the more potential there is for actual profit and business growth. So yea, Xbox is kicking serious ass right now.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Not only that but putting $80 billion into gaming acquisitions with maybe more to come. They are obviously here for the long haul.
They got the money. $16.7B prorated into a full year is almost $70B. It actually will be as MS is still growing profits every year.

Activision is done (the big one). Next biggest are EA at $35B and T2 at $16B. Not sure who is after them but I remember someone saying UBI was around $8B.

If I was MS, I'd go after T2. EA isn't worth it as their main focus is sports games which are probably all mandated to be multiplatform. And the BF franchise has tanked lately. UBI is much cheaper but so many of their games seem so similar (open world or shooter with an assault rifle).

Japanese studios would be a good diversion, but people say Japanese companies cant be bought out by foreign companies so that cuts them out.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
This is 2022 CYQ1 vs 2021 CYQ1, so to me. 4% growth in content and services is actually rather poor. Seems like an overall drag on MSFT’s performance as most given all More Personal Computing segments grew faster. And MPC lags Azure by a lot. They had spent substantially on Game Pass for third party and released Fozra and Halo and the Bethesda catalog. Investment in PC. How much higher is Game Pass vs last year? What are the subs count? Presumably install base is a fair amount higher over the years , why isn’t content/services keeping pace? Interesting that third party is down as well with major hit Elden Ring released this quarter. Need to watch this to see if game pass subscribers buy third party games to the same degree as prior. Still glad the financials are up and they are fully committed for completion’s sake.
I'm surprised there wasn't a GamePass update. I wonder if that means numbers have dipped with MS relying more on Guardians of the Galaxy and Rainbow Six Extraction etc to keep people subbed.
 

johnjohn

Member
All this success is only going to make MS more likely to make more acquisitions. Who's next, Take Two? They already own CoD, makes sense for them to get GTA next.

The panic in this thread is palpable.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Playstation hardware sales are a key metric for Sony's financial picture as a whole because the division is so important.

That's the only reason they release figures to investors. Same reason they give these investors an outloook picture ahead of time of expected sales.

MS investors aren't clamoring for Xbox hardware sales numbers.
So why did they release them in previous years?

Sounds like bullshit to me.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I'm surprised there wasn't a GamePass update. I wonder if that means numbers have dipped with MS relying more on Guardians of the Galaxy and Rainbow Six Extraction etc to keep people subbed.

Game Pass is specifically name checked as one of the contributors to the growth. I think it's safe to say it's growing to MS's satisfaction.

They may reveal updated game pass sub numbers around their gaming showcase event, as that'll be more directly gaming oriented.







edit: Based on historical trends, MS has only revealed Game Pass subscriber updates in January of 2022 and 2021, so maybe that's something they specifically don't want to reveal til next January.

Who can say.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Game Pass is specifically name checked as one of the contributors to the growth. I think it's safe to say it's growing to MS's satisfaction.

They may reveal updated game pass sub numbers around their gaming showcase event, as that'll be more directly gaming oriented.



No I meant an update with actual numbers.

At the moment updates are made irregularly so makes it more of a guessing game.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
No I meant an update with actual numbers.

At the moment updates are made irregularly so makes it more of a guessing game.


Right, I updated my last post a minute ago.

But based on 2022 and 2021 MS has only revealed official Game Pass numbers in January. So we may not get an update officially until Jan 2023, and we may get more Rockstar CEO moments in the middle of the year that'll lead to more confusion instead.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
So why did they release them in previous years?

Sounds like bullshit to me.
Because MS at the time thought it would be a good number to release to investors. It's not the same people in charge from that era, and different decisions were made later and they stuck with it.

XBox One was disasterous from a hardware sales numbers, everyone knows that.. but that bloodbath honestly didn't really start until well after they stopped reporting sales. Was Sony "beating them" part of why? I dunno, maybe? Who knows.. either way, this info is for investors, not console warriors.

MS also did make decisions that absolutely would impact their Xbox sales.. like releasing all 1st party gamed day one on PC. So when you do stuff like that, you do change what metrics matter as much as others. Focusing on a metric that you know is going to go down, to some extent by design, is not particularly smart for investment reports.

Their revenue meanwhile has continued to climb despite Xbox One puttering out, so clearly those hardware numbers were not key to an increase in revenue. Otherwise, investors would WTF the lack of numbers.
 
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Both are serving the purpose of "try and buy if you really like it".
Based on the "Gamepass users buy more games than non gamepass ones". yet no one can prove this.

It's a tier on a service that I find useful. Probably the reason it isn't free to everyone is because there is a compensation for it by Sony.
Same way Plus games have compensations on download/playtime.

Every 30+ games will have it, a great way to add value, IMO more than what gamepass is offering today.
There is a huge difference between having full access to a game as long as you pay and having a 2-hour trial that ends whether you keep paying or not and requiring you to be paying to access the trial at all. Plus and Game pass are different services offering a significantly different value.

You only need to check the subscription numbers before Sony merges all their services together to see which one gamers thought was the better deal. I'll continue to hope you aren't advocating to pay for demos and trials. Those should be free like they always have been.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
No I meant an update with actual numbers.

At the moment updates are made irregularly so makes it more of a guessing game.
If your MS bashing has come down to "Why doesn't MS tell everyone Game Pass sub count in earnings reports?", I'll take that as a compliment to MS.

MS released a lot of data today across different divisions. You can surely find more showstopping nuggets.

Dont forget the most important thing about earnings reports. Profits. $16.7B in one quarter. That's worth more than T2.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?


Going off this tweet we know that a minimum of 10m users are Ultimate subscribers.



The hours played 45% more is a fascinating metric to dissect.

Are the existing users playing more, or is there a sizable influx of new users contributing to the nearly 50% increase in hours being played on the service ?

With the pandemic slowing down, schools and offices opening up again and travel resuming in earnest, we can't use the 2020 mantra that everyone is at home and has more time than ever before.
 

Woopah

Member
So they have been improving their market share in the past 6 months and shipped more than PS5 in several key markets. Going to be an interesting generation.

They have to not take Switch sales into account to get that headline though.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
How is that a minimum of 10m users? Doesn't that just indicate 10 million have been Ultimate subscribers and tried Xbox Cloud at one time or another?
He's talking subscribers not cloud usage.

I'm an GPU subber and never used cloud once.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
B9Q8N8T.jpg
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He's talking subscribers not cloud usage.

I'm an GPU subber and never used cloud once.


I have used it maybe a couple of hours at best. I wonder what their tracking is. Just anyone whose even launched anything on XCloud or must have put in some time to be counted ?
 

Topher

Gold Member
He's talking subscribers not cloud usage.

I'm an GPU subber and never used cloud once.

The tweet he references is talking about people who have used "Xbox cloud gaming". He got the 10 million from that.

Yeah. You need to be ultimate to use Xcloud, but don't have to use Xcloud as an ultimate subscriber.

It was just one way to pick an extra bit of info out of the information they shared.

But you don't have to be a subscribed to Game Pass at all and coud have been counted as having used "Xbox cloud gaming". I don't think we can derive a min or max number of GPU subs from that.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
But you don't have to be a subscribed to Game Pass at all and coud have been counted as having used "Xbox cloud gaming". I don't think we can derive a min or max number of GPU subs from that.

Xbox Cloud is explicitly only available as a part of Game Pass Ultimate, that's where they're deriving the number from. That it's 10 million potential GPU subscribers among who knows how many in total who used Xcloud.

I don't think you can use Xcloud outside of game pass.

They're not talking about Remote play. But Xbox Cloud specifically.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
If your MS bashing has come down to "Why doesn't MS tell everyone Game Pass sub count in earnings reports?", I'll take that as a compliment to MS.

MS released a lot of data today across different divisions. You can surely find more showstopping nuggets.

Dont forget the most important thing about earnings reports. Profits. $16.7B in one quarter. That's worth more than T2.
You're really triggered because I said was surprised they didn't release a GamePass sub number?

And getting giddy about profit of the whole company on a gaming-focused forum. That's a pretty pathetic outcome, but hey, whatever rocks your boat.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Xbox Cloud is explicitly only available as a part of Game Pass Ultimate, that's where they're deriving the number from. That it's 10 million potential GPU subscribers among who knows how many in total who used Xcloud.

I don't think you can use Xcloud outside of game pass.

They're not talking about Remote play. But Xbox Cloud specifically.

Right. 10 million people have used xCloud as GPU subscribers or as part of the xCloud preview between xCloud's launch and now. This doesn't tell us the "minimum" number of GPU subscribers there are currently.
 

oldergamer

Member
Ok, let's use our brains for a moment:

Xbox hardware is sold at a loss.
Gamepass is sustainable.
First party will be day one on Gamepass.


Do I need to go on?
It's growing, remember, they were still losing 2:1 to PS5 by the end of last year.
Growth is growth, period, yet no sales numbers, just percentages.

I'm not trolling, think about it, every game at release and likely retroactively to first parties, this is a lot more useful (to me), than gamepass (which I also have due to my 3 years extension of gold for 1$).
Did you mean ass or brains?
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Right. 10 million people have used xCloud as GPU subscribers or as part of the xCloud preview between xCloud's launch and now. This doesn't tell us the "minimum" number of GPU subscribers there are currently.

I think it's just something lost in translation/context.

They probably meant we can say that there's at least 10m GPU subscribers going by the Cloud metrics released.
 

Corndog

Banned
When was the last update on if the hardware sales are sold at a loss?, I would think the Series X at least should have turned that corner by now.
If series x isn’t breaking even then both PS5 models certainly aren’t. I doubt that’s the case though.
 

Topher

Gold Member
I think it's just something lost in translation/context.

They probably meant we can say that there's at least 10m GPU subscribers going by the Cloud metrics released.

It would mean there have been at least 10 million GPU subscribers since it launched. Doesn't matter. If I had to guess then I'd say the majority of Game Pass subscribers are GPU which means more than 10 million.
 

Jaybe

Member
If your MS bashing has come down to "Why doesn't MS tell everyone Game Pass sub count in earnings reports?", I'll take that as a compliment to MS.

MS released a lot of data today across different divisions. You can surely find more showstopping nuggets.

Dont forget the most important thing about earnings reports. Profits. $16.7B in one quarter. That's worth more than T2.

I know your post was to someone else, but in all fairness, of all the gaming numbers doled out today (cloud game use, game pass sub time playing), not sharing the sub count is at the very least curious, especially given below how large and material executive bonus pay packages are and that:

Xbox Game Pass subscriber growth is also the only gaming metric on the payment plan for Microsoft executives.

https://www.vg247.com/xbox-game-pass-subscriber-growth-below-expectations
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I know your post was to someone else, but in all fairness, of all the gaming numbers doled out today (cloud game use, game pass sub time playing), not sharing the sub count is at the very least curious, especially given below how large and material executive bonus pay packages are and that:



https://www.vg247.com/xbox-game-pass-subscriber-growth-below-expectations
Who says exec bonus metrics have to be disclosed publicly?

One part of exec pay packages (believe it or not) can also be the amount of charitable donations they generate. You wont see that promoted in earnings.

For all of you who work at big companies and execs and HR go on those donation binges hoping you donate, they compile all that, and company has a ratio goal to hit. The average employee wont care, but the execs do.
 
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So is Xbox dead or are they dadddddd! Cause all the doom and gloom and people making it seem like Microsoft is just about to vanish! The more interesting thing here is that would have made the money back and then some from the activision deal before that deal closes. That is a very scary. It’s like the didn’t lose a thing.
 



MS/Satya are all hands go on Azure.


Nice to see an official mention from head of Microsoft, and without quote-tweeting VGChartz, either.

Gonna guess Azure game revenue is for all games leveraging Azure network services, and not just necessarily GamePass itself.

All this success is only going to make MS more likely to make more acquisitions. Who's next, Take Two? They already own CoD, makes sense for them to get GTA next.

The panic in this thread is palpable.

If the point of the other acquisitions were to bolster GamePass, and GamePass is being primarily driven by Xbox console sales, and Xbox console sales have seen large increases in key markets already, I don't think that reasoning works as a justification for making more acquisitions any time soon. IMO they need to focus on cultivating the ones they've already made, and have made since 2018. Focus on getting ABK in full order, and see what the results are for the current acquisitions before considering making further ones.

They've already sunk roughly $80 billion in big gaming acquisitions in only the past two years; after ABK feels like a perfect time to get results from the current acquisitions before going for yet another major purchase that will add more logistical pressure to their gaming organization, more that needs to be micromanaged and hastily integrated into the rest of the structure and so on. If that means another company buys Ubisoft in the meantime, for example, then whatever. At this point I'd think MS have enough faith in their total talent to make that work for a good while and start contributing towards making back those spent billions.
 
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Jaybe

Member
Who says exec bonus metrics have to be disclosed publicly?

One part of exec pay packages (believe it or not) can also be the amount of charitable donations they generate. You wont see that promoted in earnings.

For all of you who work at big companies and execs and HR go on those donation binges hoping you donate, they compile all that, and company has a ratio goal to hit. The average employee wont care, but the execs do.

So you have Game Pass subs, a metric that the executive team is bonused on, which is central to subscription based valuations are based on, for which they have made $77 billion worth of acquisitions to pump up, and… some people think that’d perhaps be a good number to share and then you give that strawman, of ‘who says it needs to be shared’ and some donation example? Really? Are you actually not interested?

Any way, MSFT will share it at some point as they have in past years, and as large corporations are becoming increasingly transparent on executive comp.

VMxK8wK.jpg
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Are you actually not interested?

VMxK8wK.jpg
Not really.

Why would I be interested in Satya's exec bonus structure, when I've never been interested in any exec's structure including the CEO at the company I work at? I dont even know how much $$$ my CEO makes even though I'm sure I can find his compensation in a Bloomberg article.

Are you interested to see what the bonus structures are of Nintendo, Sony or Apple CEOs?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
They've already sunk roughly $80 billion in big gaming acquisitions in only the past two years; after ABK feels like a perfect time to get results from the current acquisitions before going for yet another major purchase that will add more logistical pressure to their gaming organization, more that needs to be micromanaged and hastily integrated into the rest of the structure and so on. If that means another company buys Ubisoft in the meantime, for example, then whatever. At this point I'd think MS have enough faith in their total talent to make that work for a good while and start contributing towards making back those spent billions.
Depends on the company.

My company makes acquisitions every two years. The list of products and brands gets added to the pot. And my company is nowhere close to being worth $2 trillion.
 

Jaybe

Member
Not really.

Why would I be interested in Satya's exec bonus structure, when I've never been interested in any exec's structure including the CEO at the company I work at? I dont even know how much $$$ my CEO makes even though I'm sure I can find his compensation in a Bloomberg article.

Are you interested to see what the bonus structures are of Nintendo, Sony or Apple CEOs?

I’m specially referring to Game Pass subscribers. I note you cut the logic for why that’s of interest off what you quoted. Nice editing job to make it seems like I was asking you if you were interested in their comp structure and the comp structure example was provided to educate you that these things are made commonly public.
 

Faithless83

Banned
Did you mean ass or brains?
I know that some people may mix the two together and not everyone here speaks English, but I meant brains. :messenger_sunglasses:
There is a huge difference between having full access to a game as long as you pay and having a 2-hour trial that ends whether you keep paying or not and requiring you to be paying to access the trial at all. Plus and Game pass are different services offering a significantly different value.

You only need to check the subscription numbers before Sony merges all their services together to see which one gamers thought was the better deal. I'll continue to hope you aren't advocating to pay for demos and trials. Those should be free like they always have been.
I'm talking strictly the demo part here and I expressed "IMO" or "for me" on every mention.
The big difference here is every game 30$+ instead of a selection of full games that I have no control of.
I'm advocating for trials/demos and I understand why they are behind a paywall. I'll pay for retro anyways, this is a nice plus, again IMO.

There are no demos to all games on other platforms, so what Sony is currently planning is a first and a good thing IMO. 2 hours of EVERY new game at launch is great value to me.
Steam, is a refund, not a demo.

It will push for more polish on games at launch, because it can clearly ruin a sale, more power to the consumer.

The way some people here are so defensive about "their gamepass", is enough to show that competition will be nice.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I’m specially referring to Game Pass subscribers. I note you cut the logic for why that’s of interest off what you quoted. Nice editing job to make it seems like I was asking you if you were interested in their comp structure and the comp structure example was provided to educate you that these things are made commonly public.
And I already answered you. Not everything is public, and even though you found a Satya bonus structure plan involving GP metrics, who says that everything involved with his bonus would need to be public?

Your Satya bonus plan shows 12 metrics.

Check out any MS financial report and see how many of them are public knowledge.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
All this success is only going to make MS more likely to make more acquisitions. Who's next, Take Two? They already own CoD, makes sense for them to get GTA next.

The panic in this thread is palpable.
T2 is my bet. T2 only at $14B market cap now (was $16B not long ago). MS can round up the offer to $20B (+40% premium).

They'd have control of COD and GTA. Two of the biggest franchises out there.
 

akimbo009

Gold Member
Not bad. Some of those long term bets seem to be getting momentum. Big fan of Game Pass so glad it's continuing to succeed and make up for some other losses in 3p. After-hours market seems happy too.

Good stuff. Setting up for a stronger back half of the year when their leading games start landing.
 

Jaybe

Member
And I already answered you. Not everything is public, and even though you found a Satya bonus structure plan involving GP metrics, who says that everything involved with his bonus would need to be public?

Your Satya bonus plan shows 12 metrics.

Check out any MS financial report and see how many of them are public knowledge.

Fair take. The interesting thing is that they (and Sony) do make the subs metric public. MS shared it in Jan. I suspect after thinking on this that subs peak end of CYQ4 with big releases, Black Friday promos, and increased holiday hardware sales driving it up. Maybe given this they will only share in Jan for consistency should there be cyclical dips. Good chat any how.
 
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