Microsoft has just shared its first quarter results for the 2024 fiscal year, and it's mostly good news for Xbox. Following the long-anticipated release of Starfield, Xbox has broadly seen an increase in overall gaming revenue despite a decline in hardware.
In its press release, Microsoft confirmed that Xbox content and services, which include the gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass, saw a revenue increase of 13% over the last quarter. This follows the release of Starfield, touted as one of the most important releases in Xbox's history, which managed to hit hit 10 million players in just three weeks to become the biggest launch in Bethesda Game Studios' history.
Xbox also bolstered its revenue by raising the price on Game Pass.
Xbox posts its first earnings since the Activision Blizzard merger
It was not all good news for Xbox, as hardware revenue declined by 7%. It was part of an overall decline that saw revenue from Microsoft hardware devices such as Surface tablets drop some 22%.
While there is no direct explanation for the decline in Xbox hardware sales in the quarter, it is worth pointing out that several highly confidential documents from Microsoft recently surfaced online. One of those documents included plans to release mid-generation model refreshes of both the Xbox Series X and Series S sometime next year, with a next-generation Xbox console slated to release sometime in 2028.
While no mention of it in the overall financial results, it's also worth pointing out this is the first earnings report Microsoft has published since it successfully acquired Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard a few weeks ago. While it won't have much of an impact on 2023, Microsoft is planning to bring a massive catalog of Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass starting next year.
We'll get a better look at Xbox's future plans in a partner direct scheduled for tomorrow, though there are no plans to make any announcements pertaining to Activision Blizzard. You can find more details on the event right here.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
