THE CRUNCH
Xbox hardware sales fell 14 percent year on year in Microsoft's latest quarterly results, which the company attributed to a lower volume of consoles sold. Overall Xbox revenue declined two percent, with chief financial officer Amy Hood attributing the dip to declines in third-party content and Xbox Game Pass, partially offset by growth in first-party content.
Xbox leader Asha Sharma struck a more upbeat tone, writing on X that console sales "remain constrained by supply" with "more demand than consoles available", and pointing to an expanded refurbishment programme as one way of getting more consoles to players. She also highlighted record performances for Minecraft and World of Warcraft, Call of Duty's "most acclaimed release in more than a decade", and double-digit revenue growth on PC.
On the earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella echoed the Minecraft record quarter and World of Warcraft's largest beta in franchise history, and pointed to one of Microsoft's strongest first- and third-party holiday lineups in years, naming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and GTA 6. Gears of War: E-Day, due 6th October and also within that holiday window, went unmentioned.
The results land shortly after Sharma said the Xbox division had "started to return to growth" following the restructuring she has led, which has so far cost more than 1800 jobs. That process is ongoing, with further layoff waves expected and voluntary redundancy offered to thousands of Microsoft staff more widely.