Microsoft has made enough profit in the past three months alone to pay for the $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda twice over.
In the first financial update for Microsoft since the launch of the Xbox Series X|S, the company’s gaming division has been shown to be excelling and that’s putting it mildly. The reports are from the earnings for Microsoft’s Fiscal Year 2021 Q2 [via GameSpot].
Details were revealed by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter. In his initial tweet Ahmad detailed that Xbox gaming revenue is up by 51% ($5 billion), as well as Xbox Content and Services being up by 40% (Year-on-Year), aided by the fantastic Xbox Game Pass.
Despite continued new-gen shortages, Xbox hardware is also up by 86% (Year-on-Year) which is driven by the Xbox Series X|S launch.
Prior to the launch of the Xbox Series X|S, I also saw plenty talking about buying the last-gen Xbox One consoles at cut-prices, which would have played a role of the unsung hero for Microsoft during the new-gen launch.
However as impressive as the sale numbers are, they could have been much higher for Microsoft if it wasn’t for the COVID pandemic. Severe stock shortages of the Xbox Series X|S (which is still an on-going issue) is also a problem.
Analyst Ahmad acknowledged the global pandemic and stock shortages in a later tweet.
“One thing that can be inferred from the figures, which isn’t really surprising, is that Xbox didn’t ship as many Series X|S consoles as they did Xbox One’s in the same timeframe,” wrote Ahmad.
Ahmad continued: “This has been reflected in global sell through data too. Mainly due to production it seems.”
In total Microsoft reported earnings of $43.1 billion in revenue, which is up by 17%.
In terms of profit, Microsoft made $15.5 billion which is up by 33% and this profit alone is enough to pay for the ZeniMax (parent company of Bethesda) acquisition twice over.
Earlier in the week Microsoft made a surprising u-turn on its price hike for Xbox Live Gold. Well I suppose it’s not like they’re short of a few quid!
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Featured Image Credit: Microsoft