Shortly after announcing layoffs for 1,900 staff across its gaming division, Microsoft has revealed that it has seen a 49 percent jump in revenue for its Xbox division. In an earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company has seen new all-time records for monthly active users across Xbox and PC, as well as mobile. Of these, mobile accounts for 200 million monthly active users by itself.
The new revenue figures take into account the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which brought big titles, including franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, as well as Diablo and Overwatch under the Microsoft umbrella. The mobile monthly active users can likely be attributed to releases like King’s Candy Crush Saga.
By the end of December 31, Microsoft saw its gaming revenue rise up to $7.1 billion, with Microsoft attributing 44 points of net impact to Activision Blizzard. A new Form 10-Q filing by Microsoft, as spotted by industry analyst MauroNL, values the Activision Blizzard acquisition at $75.4 billion.
“This quarter we set all-time records for monthly active users on Xbox, PC, as well as mobile, where we now have over 200 million monthly active users alone, inclusive of Activision Blizzard games,” said Nadella at the earnings call (courtesy of VGC).
“With our acquisition we have added hundreds of millions of gamers to our ecosystem, as we execute on our ambition to reach more gamers on more platforms. With cloud gaming, we continue to innovate to offer more players more ways to experience the games they love where and when and how they want. Hours streamed increased 44% year-over-year. Great content is key to our growth, and across out portfolio I’ve never been more excited about our line-up of upcoming games.”
Nadella went on to talk about the future of the company, with new first-party offerings coming to PC and Xbox, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, as well as the yearly Call of Duty release, and other titles like The Elder Scrolls Online‘s new expansion.
“In gaming, we expect revenue growth in the low 40s, including approximately 45 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition,” said Microsoft CFO Amy Hood. “We expect Xbox content and services revenue growth in the low to mid 50s, driven by approximately 50 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition.”
The company also expects a decline in hardware revenue going forward, with its growth primarily coming from software sales and subscription services.