Activision Blizzard helped Microsoft’s gaming division achieve a record-breaking third fiscal quarter, even as Xbox hardware sales saw a significant decline.
During the three months ending March 31, 2024, the Redmond giant’s gaming revenue increased 51% over last year, including a 55-point net hit from Activision, to a record $5. .45 billion.
Since Microsoft finalized the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, we knew that this would have a huge impact on the company’s profits, as we are talking about the owner of some of the most franchises in the gaming industry, including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
To the delight of Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer, it didn’t take long until the fruits of this merger began to appear, as during the release of the third quarter 2024 fiscal report, we saw exponential increases in the gaming division’s profits.
Profits from Xbox content and services were up 62%, led by 61 net impact points from Activision, but unfortunately, profits from Xbox hardware sales were down 31% year-over-year.
During Microsoft’s earnings call on Thursday, Nadella highlighted the impact of Activision Blizzard’s games, which helped the company “set Q3 records for game streaming hours, console usage and monthly active devices.” ”.
Diablo 4 became the first Activision Blizzard game to be added to Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service on March 28.
According to Nadella, members played more than 10 million hours in the first 10 days, “making it one of our biggest Game Pass launches ever.”
He continued: “We are also encouraged by the continued success of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, which is attracting new players and retaining franchise loyalists.”
Among the other gains highlighted by the company in the latest report, we can highlight the following numbers:
- Windows OEM revenue increased by 11%
- Device revenue fell 17%
- Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23% year on year
In its report, Microsoft also states that it is expecting fourth-quarter device revenue to decline again, “in the mid-teens,” according to Microsoft CFO Amy Hood. Windows OEM revenue growth is expected to be in the “low single digits of average” in the fourth quarter as PC market volumes are expected to remain at pre-pandemic levels.
Did you imagine such exponential increases after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard?
