Source: Matt Brown | Windows Central
Microsoft has unveiled its second-quarter earnings for its 2021 fiscal year, reporting revenue once again on the rise to $43.1 billion. That also couples with continued success for its gaming properties, pushing total revenue up 51% year-over-year, and steady growth across the fundamentals of its Xbox brand.
It attributes its gaming successes to various factors, but spotlighting the recent launch of its new Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. It contributed to hardware revenue near-doubling with an 86% surge, as it scrambles to meet demand with its latest generation consoles. The two new devices launched back in November, with tight availability expected to continue over the coming months.
Content and services saw an uptick this quarter, which includes Xbox software and subscriptions, also rising 40% year-over-year. Microsoft pins this on “strength” from third-party and first-party titles, as well as its Xbox Game Pass. It contrasts the downward slump witnessed this time last year, where overall gaming revenue fell 21% at the tail end of the Xbox One generation.
It comes as Xbox services and subscriptions remain increasingly vital to its gaming portfolio, with the growth of its Xbox Game Pass membership a continued focus for the company. That saw Microsoft outline plans to double the price of its Xbox Live Gold service last Friday, which it later reverted amid widespread criticism. It was a move assumed to increase Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adoption, its all-inclusive tier bundling Xbox Game Pass on Xbox and PC, EA Play, and Xbox cloud gaming into a single package.
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