Microsoft released their earning numbers in their latest financial briefing that they held today, and for us folks who follow gaming, there was a fair bit of interest there- Microsoft announced that they had shipped 6.6 million Xbox consoles this past quarter, which sounds very impressive, until you consider that, much like Sony used to do back when the PlayStation 3 was struggling, Microsoft have, yet again, combined the sales of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One together, thus masking the true sales of each console, both in this period, and lifetime.
Overall, Xbox platform revenue decreased by 20%, which Microsoft attributes to lower sales of Xbox 360 this year than last, in turn blamed on declining interest in last generation machines; Microsoft did, however, note that the price cut had been successful for the Xbox One, and that it had led the sales market for two out of three months of the quarter in the US.
Elsewhere, in some other good news for Microsoft, they finally have a successful tablet on their hands, as the Surface Pro 3 is officially a hit- Surface revenue increased $719 million or 56%, primarily due to Surface Pro 3 units sold, offset in part by a decrease in revenue from other Surface devices sold. In fact, Surface Pro 3 was the big money bringer this time around, and Xbox’s lessened revenue actually offset the gains brought in by Surface Pro.
Still, it appears that on the whole, the Xbox One’s struggles are now behind it- it continues to build a very strong library, and it is now at a desirable and attractive price that should maintain some sales momentum.
