However, it has not yet improved Xbox sales.
Another blowout earnings report was released by Microsoft for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2024. The company reported revenues of $62 billion, which is a gain of 18 percent from the previous year, and profits of $21.9 billion, which is an increase of 33 percent. The most intriguing aspect of this quarter, however, is that we will finally get the opportunity to observe the effects that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was valued at $68.7 billion, would have on the $3 trillion firm. Microsoft claims that its overall gaming revenue climbed by 49 percent, with 44 points of that gain coming from the “net impact” of the Activision transaction. However, the company does not provide exact figures pertaining to this phenomenon.
The positive news comes as a bit of a surprise when one considers that Microsoft made the announcement the previous week that it was going to lay off 1,900 employees across Xbox and Activision Blizzard. As a result of fifty layoffs and a restructure that took place in the summer of 2017, Blizzard has decided to lay off the remaining members of its esports section, as reported by several sources.
Since the previous year, the More Personal Computing business of Microsoft, which encompasses Xbox, Surface, and Windows, has seen a 19 percent increase in revenue, amounting to $16.9 billion. The business claims that the Activision acquisition was responsible for 15 percentage points of that rise. A division that has been significantly damaged by declining PC sales (which affects Windows licences and Surfaces) and faltering Xbox consoles is currently undergoing a significant transformation as a result of this transition. During the quarter, revenues from personal computers device sales decreased by 9 percent, while sales of Xbox hardware increased by 3 percent.
The revenue generated by Xbox content and services has also increased by 61 percent over the previous year, with Activision contributing 55 points of this increase. If Microsoft is able to truly exploit that acquisition to increase Xbox sales, or at the very least, to spur on greater interest in Game Pass memberships, it will be intriguing to watch what happens. (We regret to inform you that we do not have any new information regarding the status of that service.)