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Xbox gaming revenue fell by 13% during the holiday quarter | VGC

A lack of new releases hit Microsoft's gaming business in the three months ended in December…

www.videogameschronicle.com

The company said on Tuesday that Xbox content and services revenue for the quarter was down 12%, while Xbox hardware revenue fell 13% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Microsoft said content and services revenue was down “on a strong prior year comparable, with declines in first-party content and lower monetization in third-party content, partially offset by growth in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions”.

The declines were in line with the company’s previous guidance. In October, Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood said it was expecting gaming revenue to decline in the low-to-mid teens.

Sounds like they saw this coming and weren't surprised by it.

 

[Deerock71]

Release nothing, expect nothing.

 

[Ronin_7]

Yikes

 

[graywolf323]

I’m really surprised by the hardware drop given the sales they had on the Series S

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Considering how the year was insanely lacking, 13% is a pretty mild loss.

 

[Three]

Last year they had FH5 and Halo Infinite that quarter, this year they pretty much released nothing at all. That's why they are not surprised.

 

[feynoob]

1 year with no big game is mad crazy.
There is really no excuse for that. Yet here we are.

At this point, I have to agree with "Phil out" crowd.

 

[Halo is Back]

No games = no revenue growth

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

See

 

[Ozriel]

that 13% drop is in comparison with the 2021 Holiday performance...the quarter where they released two AAA games + Hardware bundle for Halo Infinite.

Any Q4 2022 increase in Series S unit sales from price promotions would be counterbalanced by higher Average selling price in Q4 2021.

Not unexpected, tbh.

VGC once again with the poor headlines.

 

[JLB]

Last year they had FH5 and Halo Infinite that quarter, this year they pretty much released nothing at all. That's why they are not surprised.

pretty much

 

[remember_spinal]

No games = no revenue growth

It really is that simple.

Theres no amount of marketing or pr that can save you without good software

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

They literally had series s on sale for 200 in multiple countries and the console was widely available. Like…how?

 

[Sanepar]

But fanboys keep saying the world is on fire for gamepass...

Their missmanagement of studios are showing results.

 

[MikeM]

GamePass driven market may already be saturated so all is left is for games to drive people to buy your box.

I hope MS is backing money trucks up for some real exclusive deals.

 

[SlimySnake]

An NPD leaker showed that they only sold 700k units to the ps5s 1300k units.

I’m surprised that the revenue drop in only 13%. Expected it to be bigger drop than that. They probably did better in December.

 

[{insert code here}]

Ooof.

 

[TheBTL]

They literally had series s on sale for 200 in multiple countries and the console was widely available. Like…how?

No games. I don’t own a ps5 I own a series x and all I’m playing are 360 & Xbox one games on the damn thing.

 

[Lupin25]

It will clearly take awhile before gaming can top COVID-level sales numbers. Considering no 1st party releases and a bad 3rd party output last year…

Not sooo bad.

Hopefully, Starfield, Hellblade 2, STALKER 2, “something” will be the game to make up for last holiday, next Xmas.

 

[DenchDeckard]

13 percent is not really anything out of line vs 2021 q4 in pandemic boost. We are in a reset period and an impending recession worldwide. Will be interesting to see what the others post.

 

[Gobjuduck]

Not concerning, it’s expected. Xbox had no software to push sales this holiday. Last year they had forza horizon 5.

If it’s trailing behind Xbox one, that’s not a concern either because the ps5 is still trailing behind the ps4.

Midgen will define Xbox.

 

[clarky]

1 year with no big game is mad crazy.
There is really no excuse for that. Yet here we are.

At this point, I have to agree with "Phil out" crowd.

Agreed. its time for xbox to bring the goods no excuses if 2023 isn't a banner year for them then they will struggle to gain any ground on the completion at all.

On the flip side PlayStation 1st party look to in a similar spot this year with the PS5 although they will be able to soften the blow with with 3rd party offerings and maybe some surprises, but I'm not hopeful as most of their studio's have released big games this last couple of years.

 

[remember_spinal]

Agreed. its time for xbox to bring the goods no excuses if 2023 isn't a banner year for them then they will struggle to gain any ground on the completion at all.

On the flip side PlayStation 1st party look to in a similar spot this year with the PS5 although they will be able to soften the blow with with 3rd party offerings and maybe some surprises, but I'm not hopeful as most of their studio's have released big games this last couple of years.

Spider-man 2 alone vastly separates this year from xbox’ 2022. It’s the biggest franchise sony has and its still not the only AAA game they are publishing this year.

If all Microsoft had last holiday season was Starfield we wouldn’t even be having this conversation