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

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
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.
Public metrics are a hit and miss thing.

Some do it, some dont. Some do it for PR purposes, some never do it no matter how good the company does.

I skimmed a few Apple annual reports. One from the 90s, one from the 2000s and a recent one.

During these 30 years, it's been a combo of shitty financials, decent financials and awesome financials (recent).

None of them divulged detailed profit metrics per product line. So Apple is a company that prefers to be vague forever and just lump shit together into one final number. Or with recent Apple, Products is one number and services is another number.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Prepare for more console drought in the next quarter.
Anyone know if Sony and MS contract out manufacturing to the same places (ie. Foxconn)?

If so, that might explain why each brand gets their random waves of consoles. Like any factory, you got a rotating schedule of make this shit for two weeks and make that for two weeks.
 
I know that some people may mix the two together and not everyone here speaks English, but I meant brains. :messenger_sunglasses:

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.
Well technically Sony isn't offering demos on all games either only games near $60. davidjaffe davidjaffe did a video showing few games are at that price point so it's not offering it for many games. Sony also isn't even offering the trials day one necessarily and are also requiring you to have their top tier sub service to even have access to these trials in the first place. I just don't see the value and I certainly don't see any real comparisons to Game pass. I'm glad you like it though. Sony I'm certain will appreciate your patronage.
 

Robb

Gold Member
As far as I can tell they are only going to go up from here.
Definitely, tbh I’m surprised they seem to be doing this good already.

To me it seems like the ball has barely even started rolling. Just imagine when Bethesda games start to release on a more regular schedule and all of the ActiBlizz games start to release on GamePass..
St Patricks Day Pig GIF
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I can't believe they are doing this well and with a less than ideal line up of games imo. Of course halo and forza are huge but they haven't hit a steady release of top quality games including new IP etc yet. They are going to go from strength to strength it seems. A massive turnaround from the xbox one.

Also, it is just great to see that the move to PC day one just opened further revenue streams for them, all the tal, of Xbox is dead and I don't need to buy their consoles because I have a PC turned out to be FUD. Their plans over the last 5 years have done nothing but grow the xbox brand and better the business.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
Definitely, tbh I’m surprised they seem to be doing this good already.

To me it seems like the ball has barely even started rolling. Just imagine when Bethesda games start to release on a more regular schedule and all of the ActiBlizz games start to release on GamePass..
St Patricks Day Pig GIF
I think this is where some people get scared. They didn't expect MS to make up so much ground so quickly and can see where this is going.

If they jump into another big deal as soon as this Activision one closes, it will really reinforce how committed to growing the brand they are.

By the time the PS6 and The Xbox XXX releases the XB1 will be a long forgotten thing of the past and its going to be a very different playground.
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
Consumer base.
I know a few people that jumped ship because of gamepass and are now looking to jump back to PS.

One is selected games, the other is every full priced game at launch (not just first party ones). It's a lot more useful (to me) than gamepass.
nothing prevents Ms from doing exactly the same from the store. GamePass has nothing to do with having small demos. I'm sure the devs will hate having to release demos
 

akimbo009

Gold Member
I think this is where some people get scared. They didn't expect MS to make up so much ground so quickly and can see where this is going.

If they jump into another big deal as soon as this Activision one closes, it will really reinforce how committed to growing the brand they are.

By the time the PS6 and The Xbox XXX releases the XB1 will be a long forgotten thing of the past and its going to be a very different playground.

People are scared of a competitive gaming marketplace?
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
I'd say.

Seems like most just want PS as the dominant platform, and the rest to be afterthoughts.

Prove me wrong.
You are.
Because you are biased and thinking xbox are the angels and PS are the bad ones.

Go to twitter and you can see the other side wants PS dead as well.
Its the same thing applies to both side.

We are the same people just with different preferable gaming platforms.
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
If it includes Bethesda then these numbers are terrible, no way around it. Looking at the graph of their revenue grow over time you can't even tell that at some point in there they absorbed a $7B dollar publisher.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Investors and MS leadership think these are fantastic results. Better than any other March for Xbox. But I’m glad you’ve done the napkin maths and come up with your own analysis 😂

MS during the 360 days was very antagonistic to PC games, everybody that played on PC at the time knows that.

‘Before this gen’ is clearly referring to the Xbox one era.
 
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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.

I take it your company is in a different industry than gaming? I do understand that a lot of companies look to acquire regularly, but I'm speaking from the look of it in the gaming industry in particular. We've not seen rampant acquisitions of giant 3P publishers this frequently until now, really.

I know that's reflective of how big the market has become, and at one point 3P exclusives (timed or otherwise) were the big thing. Still though, there's a type of consolidation with these acquisitions that me as a gamer, I'm not totally cool with. I think there are some inherent benefits to a 3P staying independent that get lost once they're purchased by a much bigger platform holder.

Like, imagine if acquisitions like this were a thing back in the '90s. Imagine if Sony purchased EA before launching PS1; we would've never gotten the 3DO, most likely. Yes the 3DO was a commercial failure but we probably would've missed out on a few game IPs that are staples now (or were staples for a long time) if that system didn't come out. That's the type of stuff where I don't really like even speculating on acquisitions when it comes to gaming.
 

John Wick

Member
I subscribe to Gamepass on PC if you must know (every once in a while, not all the time, If a game I want enters Gamepass and it's cheaper for me to play it there I subscribe to play it). Why post these things in the forum if people aren't allowed to discuss or question them? We should just blindly cheer them?

How doesn't a company that is aggressively buying other gaming publishers trying to push the traditional gaming market towards a subscription future doesn't affect me as a gamer? Just because I don't own an Xbox? I own a platform where all of their games are released on as well.
Mate you can't question anything MS related without upsetting a certain crowd. We know the reason why they stopped providing certain numbers. Also pointless discussing sales and numbers because there's non provided but MS will use an estimates site to show it's sales figures when it wants too
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Oh god, forgive the man for his curiosity.
How dare he just want specific numbers and quotes.

You are absolutely right. More meticulous people should just disappear and enjoy the magnificence of Phil Spencer

Ah yes. Such innocent curiousity, well expressed in comments like:

“xbox fans said they’d be at 30 million GP subscribers last year, now they’re targeting it by end of his year, hehe”

“How do you know Forza Horizon 5 sold well”

“I thought MS said hardware sales aren’t important”

“This was a terrible quarter for Xbox”

Then the sheer inanity of demanding for exact sales numbers in a thread where they sneer at MS for not providing sales numbers for the past half decade.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Mate you can't question anything MS related without upsetting a certain crowd. We know the reason why they stopped providing certain numbers. Also pointless discussing sales and numbers because there's non provided but MS will use an estimates site to show it's sales figures when it wants too

So this begs the question. If you KNOW why MS stopped providing sales figures, why do you go into an earnings call thread to demand sales figures?

Isn’t this basically you admitting to deliberate trolling?
 

Hezekiah

Banned
I think this is where some people get scared. They didn't expect MS to make up so much ground so quickly and can see where this is going.

If they jump into another big deal as soon as this Activision one closes, it will really reinforce how committed to growing the brand they are.

By the time the PS6 and The Xbox XXX releases the XB1 will be a long forgotten thing of the past and its going to be a very different playground.
I love how statements like this are thrown around about a company that doesn't even provide hardware and software numbers, and only provides revenue for it's gaming division 😄

Basically guesstimates
 

MonarchJT

Banned
I love how statements like this are thrown around about a company that doesn't even provide hardware and software numbers, and only provides revenue for it's gaming division 😄

Basically guesstimates
imagine also at them being one of the most richest company in the whole world from long time .......that must be all random luckynesss !!!! i swear!

on serious note....what are your concern as investior about Ms?
 
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Three

Member
Those releases don’t count for this quarter that’s why they said this is the biggest non holiday quarter for Xbox ever and there was no first party release at all. Which is crazy to think off.
Their releases on other platforms are first party sales. Ghostwire Tokyo is a first party game release this quarter. FH5 selling this quarter when there was almost nothing last year.
Last year this time they had little to no first party content. You would expect it to rise.
2-hour demos being higher value than full games is not a take I thought I would ever read. MS results threads always deliver…
Who said demos are higher value? You get full games too and ALL games (games not even on the service) have a 2 hour demo. How is that bad for consumers?
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
imagine also at them being one of the most richest company in the whole world from long time .......that must be all random luckynesss !!!! i swear!

on serious note....what are your concern as investior about Ms?
Has nothing to do with what I just said.

Have some more wine cos you're not making any sense anyway.
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
Has nothing to do with what I just said.

Have some more wine cos you're not making any sense anyway.
"They didn't expect MS to make up so much ground so quickly and can see where this is going."

your answer : love how statements like this are thrown around about a company that doesn't even provide hardware and software numbers, and only provides revenue for it's gaming division

the number they providing mean that the division IT IS gaining market...
but i don't know what but something tell me that this isn't enough for you and you wanna know if they also making money right ? and I intervened there .. telling you that I still have to know only one Microsoft investor unhappy with the gains made by investing in the company. I continued asking , seen so much concern probably you are an investor, you have doubts about Microsoft's capabilities to make money?

probably you need more wine to accept that Xbox is contrary to what you hoped ...doing so good
 
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reksveks

Member
None of them divulged detailed profit metrics per product line. So Apple is a company that prefers to be vague forever and just lump shit together into one final number. Or with recent Apple, Products is one number and services is another number.
Yeah, Apple are very stingy (which is their right to be) with their numbers. It's quite funny to me but ehh.
 

reksveks

Member
Their releases on other platforms are first party sales. Ghostwire Tokyo is a first party game release this quarter. FH5 selling this quarter when there was almost nothing last year.
Last year this time they had little to no first party content. You would expect it to rise.
Q1 2021 is the aftermath of the next-gen consoles sales; I think MS content/services revenues is like 90% third party, Sony is probably in the 80% (can't really figure that one out because sony only gives 1st party unit numbers and not revenue numbers). That means any big failures like COD does really impact them.

Personally I am waiting for the EA/T2 results to try and contextualise the software numbers.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
"They didn't expect MS to make up so much ground so quickly and can see where this is going."

your answer : love how statements like this are thrown around about a company that doesn't even provide hardware and software numbers, and only provides revenue for it's gaming division

the number they providing mean that the division IT IS gaining market...
but i don't know what something tell me that this isn't enough for you and you wanna know if they also making money right ? and I intervened there .. telling you that I still have to know only one Microsoft investor unhappy with the gains made by investing in the company. I continued asking , seen so much concern probably you are an investor, you have doubts about Microsoft's capabilities to make money?

probably you need more wine to accept that Xbox is contrary to what you hoped ...doing so good
With all your talk about marketshare, and your port begging, I think it's fair to say that you're the one who lives in hope.
 

Three

Member
Q1 2021 is the aftermath of the next-gen consoles sales; I think MS content/services revenues is like 90% third party, Sony is probably in the 80% (can't really figure that one out because sony only gives 1st party unit numbers and not revenue numbers). That means any big failures like COD does really impact them.

Personally I am waiting for the EA/T2 results to try and contextualise the software numbers.
Aftermath of the next gen console sales MS had little to no first party games. They banked on Cyberpunk 2077 for their launch. They had no first party releases for it so it's only natural for first party sales to be higher this quarter compared to last year considering they had a bunch of acquisitions this past year. MS released Ghostwire on PS (considered 'first party' sales) and had FH5 sales this quarter too and Halo mtx money.
Third party being down isn't great for either of them but MS has bought a great deal of third parties now and they are now considered first party.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I love how statements like this are thrown around about a company that doesn't even provide hardware and software numbers, and only provides revenue for it's gaming division 😄

Basically guesstimates

You’re in a thread where the CEO of MS told investors they’ve ‘gained marketshare’. Also one where there’s factual info that they sold more next gen consoles than anyone else in Q1 2022.

How’s any of what he’s saying a ‘guesstimate’?
 

reksveks

Member
Aftermath of the next gen console sales MS had little to no first party games. They banked on Cyberpunk 2077 for their launch. They had no first party releases for it so it's only natural for first party sales to be higher this quarter compared to last year considering they had a bunch of acquisitions this past year. MS released Ghostwire on PS (considered 'first party' sales) and had FH5 sales this quarter too and Halo mtx money.
Third party being down isn't great for either of them but MS has bought a great deal of third parties now and they are now considered first party.
Yeah but if 90% of your revenue is third party, and that declined 7% (using NPD revenue numbers and UK unit numbers*) then your first party is going to have to do stupid numbers to be flat/up, its roughly 73% up yoy to be flat.

Yeah, Bethesda's revenue numbers is a bit of an unknown but would like to figure out if there was a way to account/guesstimate it.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
You’re in a thread where the CEO of MS told investors they’ve ‘gained marketshare’. Also one where there’s factual info that they sold more next gen consoles than anyone else in Q1 2022.

How’s any of what he’s saying a ‘guesstimate’?
Did you actually read what he said lol?

'People didn't expect MS to make up ground so quickly' - what kind of statement is that when MS doesn't actually provide numbers? How is he quantifying things before coming to that conclusion?
 

Three

Member
Yeah but if 90% of your revenue is third party, and that declined 7% (using NPD revenue numbers and UK unit numbers*) then your first party is going to have to do stupid numbers to be flat/up, its roughly 73% up yoy to be flat.

Yeah, Bethesda's revenue numbers is a bit of an unknown but would like to figure out if there was a way to account/guesstimate it.
I'm interested to know how you calculate this. Keep in mind that content and services includes everything but hardware. Even then 73% is nothing when you consider the fact that first party game sales were so low last year with no releases and no acquisitions. You would not need to do very high numbers for that kind of percentage increase.
 

reksveks

Member
I'm interested to know how you calculate this. Keep in mind that content and services includes everything but hardware. Even then 73% is nothing when you consider the fact that first party game sales were so low last year with no releases and no acquisitions. You would not need to do very high numbers for that kind of percentage increase.
True, re the fact that content and services include the xbox live, GP revenue and advertising. I have done a quick estimate of 1-(0.9*0.93), then you can figure out what the 10% of xbox first party rev should increase by to get back to flat. Very back of the matchbox maths.

We could use estimate using Sony's numbers but I think it would get a bit weird. Sony's network revenue was about 20% of software/content. Could do a quick calculation though but might require some more assumptions about the network rev split between Xbox live gold and/or gamepass.

But at that point, I would just wait the two weeks.
 
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Faithless83

Banned
Well technically Sony isn't offering demos on all games either only games near $60. davidjaffe davidjaffe did a video showing few games are at that price point so it's not offering it for many games. Sony also isn't even offering the trials day one necessarily and are also requiring you to have their top tier sub service to even have access to these trials in the first place. I just don't see the value and I certainly don't see any real comparisons to Game pass. I'm glad you like it though. Sony I'm certain will appreciate your patronage.
$30+ isn't near $60 AFAIK and it's all games, not just first party titles. It's a timer, likely a flag done on the O.S. level, same as we have with plus games, that expire once the subscription does.
nothing prevents Ms from doing exactly the same from the store. GamePass has nothing to do with having small demos. I'm sure the devs will hate having to release demos
True, my comparison stands on one is a limited catalog of "full games that you can buy if you want, as they are rotating" the other is "try every game $30+ for 2 hours prior to buying it, besides a bigger catalog of full games that also rotates".

Since it's a timer, it won't add development costs. What will likely happen is more consistent releases, since a buggy game at launch can cost them a sale.
Win/win situation for consumers.
 
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$30+ isn't near $60 AFAIK and it's all games, not just first party titles. It's a timer, likely a flag done on the O.S. level, same as we have with plus games, that expire once the subscription does.

True, my comparison stands on one is a limited catalog of "full games that you can buy if you want, as they are rotating" the other is "try every game $30+ for 2 hours prior to buying it, besides a bigger catalog of full games that also rotates".

Since it's a timer, it won't add development costs. What will likely happen is more consistent releases, since a buggy game at launch can cost them a sale.
Win/win situation for consumers.
It was $35 wholesale price not retail so most likely higher end AAA releases. So it's not really the full catalog of games on the platform. This isn't comparable to Game pass and shouldn't be at the top tier of a sub service.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Did you actually read what he said lol?

'People didn't expect MS to make up ground so quickly' - what kind of statement is that when MS doesn't actually provide numbers? How is he quantifying things before coming to that conclusion?

Eh. After the xbox one generation, People didn’t expect Xbox to be competitive this generation. And in 2021, it did look like Microsoft was well behind in next gen stock production.

Add to that the expectation that Sony would have stock ready to launch with their major AAA games Horizon FW and GT7 and you can probably see where he’s coming from.

You really should be happy. A more competitive Xbox makes Sony better, and vice versa.
 

John Wick

Member
imagine also at them being one of the most richest company in the whole world from long time .......that must be all random luckynesss !!!! i swear!

on serious note....what are your concern as investior about Ms?
You keep on harping on about how rich the company is yet It's took them 100 billion+ to get to number 3 which they have always been. What's amazing about that?
They were always rich yet Windows Phone wasn't saved by their warchest that your beating your chest about? You mention lucky so why is Bing nowhere near Google?
Clearly it's not a lack of funds...
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Microsoft wants to all of a sudden start talking about earnings again. Wonder what's changed?
elmer fudd whatever GIF by Looney Tunes

You…think Microsoft hasn’t been declaring earnings every quarter to their investors?

Lord have mercy 😂😂😂

You keep on harping on about how rich the company is yet It's took them 100 billion+ to get to number 3 which they have always been. What's amazing about that?


What $100 billion?
 
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