Xbox FY22 Q2 gaming revenue up 8% thanks to first-party games, Xbox Game Pass
The company is seeing steady growth for Xbox across hardware, games and services.
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What you need to know
Microsoftsharedits FY22 Q2 earnings report on Tuesday, giving details on growth for the Xbox brand. Overall, gaming revenue was up 8% year-over-year, while content and services revenue was up 10% and hardware was up 4%. This growth was driven by Xbox first-party titles, Xbox Game Pass and demand forXbox Series XandXbox Series Sconsoles, though partially offset by a decline in third-party revenue.
This decline in third-party revenue can be partly attributed to the underperformance of major third-party titles, such as Activision’sCall of Duty: Vanguardand EA’s Battlefield 2042. The success of Xbox first-party games can be noted inHalo Infiniteand Forza Horizon 5, which charted at #2 and #16 on theDecember 2021 NPDreport, respectively.
Microsoft recently shared thatXbox Game Pass has reached over 25 million subscribers. All of this growth is directly compared to Microsoft’sFY21 Q2 earningsa year ago. This is in line with continued growth seen in the prior quarter ahead of the holiday 2021 season, per Microsoft’sFY22 Q1 earnings.
Looking ahead, Microsoft continues to invest heavily in new content for Xbox, including expanding its first-party lineup.Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzardfor $68.7 billion, adding teams like Infinity Ward and Blizzard Entertainment to the Xbox first-party group, while also acquiring major gaming IP such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. This is in addition to Microsoft’s prior acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion.
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Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
