Microsoft saw positive developments for its Xbox Live and Cloud business, offsetting the misfortunes of its hardware sales. (Photo : Getty Images/Kevork Djansezian)
Microsoft’s earnings for the quarter and fiscal full year ending June 30 are now out with the Xbox Live revenues offering a bright spot for the company. Revenue saw a 4 percent improvement thanks to overall transactions.
The jump in revenue should be something to marvel at but Game Spot adds that such is not enough to cover lost ground for its hardware revenues. Xbox hardware revenue showed a 33 percent drop, attributed largely to lower consoles sold and price slashes offered to the market.
Summing it all up, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue fell by $152 million, equivalent to a 9 percent decrease. The difference could have been larger if not for the growing Xbox Live users.
To date, Xbox Live active users have reached an astounding 49 million which is a 33 percent improvement last year. Compared to Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscribers (20.8 million), those numbers are considered significantly different.
Xbox Live is part of Microsoft’s personal computing niche, meaning that it is only one part of the revenue story. Also included are the Windows OS, mobile phones and search advertising which account for the $346 million fall (4 percet).
Microsoft is dealing with a lot lately, seeing its phone and tablet categories suffering considerable dips. Devices experienced a $782 million dip while the phones did worse with an $870 million decrease.
While it seems to be touch and go for Microsoft in the gaming sector, the new cash-cow seems to be it cloud unit. Microsoft has been thriving with its Azure cloud unit, reaching a $12.1 billion run-rate though they still trail Amazon Web Services as the cloud wars continue.
Bundled apps were seen to be instrumental in Microsoft’s cloud business. That included bundled suites like Dynamics 365 which was 6 percent, driven by its Salesforce competitor in the CRM market, Forbes reported.
While the future of its gaming niche is showing promise, Microsoft is expected to place the same focus on its cloud unit. Both stand as the company’s biggest areas of new investments which could atone for growth and make up for the faltering stock of other company products/ services.
The video belows covers how Microsoft has been doing well with its Cloud business.
