Xbox Controller (Image: Microsoft)
Microsoft has reported that Xbox grossed $16.28 in 2021, making it the brand’s most profitable year since it was created in 2001.
Revenue from content services rose by 8.8%, reaching a total of $12.6 billion, thanks to the increased interest in Game Pass, Xbox’s subscription service which now has 25 million subscribers. Hardware sales rose by a whopping 63.3% for a total of $3.7 billion due to the increased demand of the Xbox Series X and S consoles.
Microsoft’s first party title sales also increased this year due to the successful launches of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. Third party game sales did decrease this year, which could be due to the amount of content on Microsoft’s subscription services as well as the popularity of the PlayStation 5 console.
Microsoft's Gaming division (Xbox) reported revenue of $16.28 billion for the 2021 calendar year:
– Best calendar year on record, beating previous high of 2020
– Total gaming revenue up 17.7% YoY
– Content & Services revenue up 8.8% YoY
– Hardware revenue up 63.3% YoY pic.twitter.com/84MkOsnMkG— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 25, 2022
Microsoft’s gaming division is expected to get a lot bigger as they recently announced that they would be acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. If the deal goes through, it will make Microsoft the third highest grossing gaming company worldwide.
In addition to the value added by Activision, Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda is expected to increase the value of Game Pass by a significant amount, with games such as Starfield being exclusive to Xbox and PC.
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