Xbox Earnings Show Strong Performance, Except For One Thing

Microsoft announced its fiscal results for the quarter ending December 31, 2018, and it has some positive numbers almost across the board for its Xbox gaming division. The Xbox business went up year-over-year by almost every metric, except for hardware revenue, which decreased.

According to the company, gaming revenue increased by 8%, at a total of $4.23 billion. Xbox software and services revenue increased by the most at 31%, thanks to the strength of third-parties. Xbox Live monthly active users are also up 8%, totaling 64 million. That figure includes Gold and Silver members, as well as users on Windows 10 and smartphones.

Hardware didn't fare quite so well. It was down 19%, which Microsoft credits largely to the year-over-year comparison putting it against the launch of the Xbox One X in 2017. Overall, company revenue was up 12% for a total of $32.5 billion.

Microsoft's Xbox division has been making big moves as it prepares for the future. It has plans to expand Game Pass to PC, and has acquired a long list of studios to produce more first-party content. Those include Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Playground Games, Compulsion Games, and most recently, Obsidian and InXile. It has also announced a game-streaming service that will begin rolling out in beta this year, and it's at work on the multiple new Xbox consoles.

The company recently teased "new Microsoft technologies" while touting its line-up for 2019. Recently Xbox head Phil Spencer said they'll be "going big" at E3 this year, following Sony's announcement that it's dropping out altogether.