Otherwise, a steady quarter for Xbox
With people stuck at home and turning to games, a lot of gaming services are seeing record numbers of users. Earlier this week, Xbox head Phil Spencer said it’s important companies are “thoughtful and not exploiting [the pandemic],” while noting that he’s happy Xbox can “[be] there at a time of need.”
Judging by Microsoft’s new quarterly data, plenty of people have taken Xbox up on its best value proposition. As a part of its Q3 2020 financials, Microsoft revealed that Xbox Game Pass has more than 10 million subscribers. This milestone is the first time Microsoft has divulged subscriber numbers. It’s impossible to tell what kind of revenue that drives though, because there are so many different price points for Xbox Game Pass; first-time subscribers can get a few months for only $1, the average subscription costs $10, and there’s an Ultimate version that bundles Game Pass for consoles and PC with Xbox Live Gold for $15.
This hasn’t caused some sort of spike in Xbox’s overall numbers, however, as they’re mostly flat year-over-year. Gaming revenue is down 1% and Xbox content and services revenue is up 2%. COVID-19 sheltering is the cause for the slight rise in the services sector, but it doesn’t look better because Fortnite‘s success has been skewing yearly comparisons for a while now. Elsewhere, hardware revenue was down 20% — a foreseeable dip as Xbox One sale prices are further discounted and consumers hold out for next-generation consoles.
Microsoft’s gaming revenues flat in Q3 2020 [GamesIndustry.biz]
