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- The Microsoft CEO has revealed that the company’s gaming wing has now over 500 million active users.
- This is more than twice the number of monthly active users PlayStation has ever had.
- While Xbox saw a decline in hardware sales, the software and services saw a huge increase in revenue.
Microsoft hasn’t been a strong contender in the gaming industry in terms of hardware for some time. However, according to the Microsoft CEO, the gaming division now boasts over 500 million active users across all platforms and devices.
For reference, PlayStation boasted 123 million monthly active users earlier this year to set a new record.
Why it matters: 500 million active users is a huge number, especially considering that Microsoft reported a 42% drop in hardware revenue in Q4 FY24. This means that despite the hardware problem, the gaming side is thriving.
Microsoft published its FY24 Q4 financial update recently, revealing an increase in revenue for the company. This is largely led by Xbox content and services, which saw a massive growth of 61% compared to the last fiscal year.
Speaking at the earnings call, Satya Nadella revealed the new figures for monthly active users across various devices and platforms. He also pointed out that the content pipeline for the future looks even more promising.
Our content pipeline has never been stronger.
-Satya Nadella
Despite the massive number, CFO Amy Hood says that Microsoft expects hardware sales to dip again next year.
In terms of the monthly active users, it is important to note that this figure comprises the whole of Xbox’s gaming ecosystem, including consoles and PC. This even includes users on the Amazon Fire TV Stick since Microsoft recently pushed for cloud gaming on this device.
Also, more than 300 million of these active monthly users came from the Activision Blizzard merger. Therefore, this figure likely includes users from PlayStation consoles.
Satya Nadella’s statement is promising overall, but it continues the concerning outlook for Microsoft’s consoles. It seems the gaming giant is not too concerned about the lack of hardware sales.
Moreover, many have pointed out that the company seems to be doing well, making the layoffs this year come across as forced. Microsoft laid off over 1900 employees in January and even closed Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks later.
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News Reporter
Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.
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