Microsoft report a 50% jump in game revenues in Q3

Microsoft has released their third quarter results, showing a 50% jump in game revenues, to $3.53 billion.

For the quarter ended March 31st, Microsoft saw revenue in its personal computing division up 19% to $13 billion, with gaming credited as the main driver of this growth.

Revenues were boosted by the November 2020 launch of the Xbox Series X/S, with Xbox hardware up 232% year-over-year.

Xbox content and services revenue was up 34 per cent, “driven by strength from third-party titles, Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, and first-party titles.”

Microsoft also pointed to the ongoing success of Minecraft, which had a strong year. The game’s monthly active users are up 30% year-over-year, to almost 140 million. Minecraft has also generated over $350 million through downloadable content.

“People are turning to Xbox more than ever to play and chat with friends and we saw record engagement this quarter led by strength on and off console,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “With Game Pass, we’re redefining how game are distributed, played and viewed. Just last week we added cloud gaming via the browser, expanding our reach across PC and mobile.

“Content is the flywheel behind the service’s growth and upon the closing of our acquisition of ZeniMax Media this quarter, we made 20 of the world’s most iconic and beloved games accessible via Game Pass with more to come.”