During the quarterly financial conference call for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood provided insight into the company’s gaming business.
During the livestreamed conference, Nadella boasted a new record for monthly active users in the quarter (between July and September 2024).
On top of that, he also mentioned that Game Pass enjoyed new records for Q1 for total revenue and average revenue per subscriber.
“Now, on to gaming. One year since we closed our acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, we are focused on building a business position for long-term growth driven by high-margin content and services. You already see this transformation in our results as we diversify the ways that Gamers access our content.
We set new records for monthly active users in the quarter as more players than ever play our games across devices and on the Xbox platform. Game Pass also set a new Q1 record for total revenue and average revenue per subscriber and as we look ahead, our IP across our Studios has never been stronger.”
Nadella also talked about the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, mentioning that it set records for day one players and Game Pass subscribers gained. Interestingly, he talked about sales on PlayStation and Steam, which were considerably higher year-on-year.
“Last week’s launch of Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty release ever setting a record for day one players as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day, and unit sales on PlayStation and Steam were also up over 60% year-over-year.
This speaks to our strategy of meeting Gamers where they are by enabling them to play more games across the screens they spend their time on.”
Hood provided guidance for the gaming business for the current fiscal quarter (Q2 related to the period between October and December).
The expectation is that gaming revenue will decline in the high single-digits (between 5% and 9%) due to the Xbox hardware business. Content and Services revenue is expected to be relatively flat.
Hood added that Microsoft is “excited” about last week’s launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, repeating that it generated the most new Game Pass subscribers on a launch day ever.
She also added that revenue will be recognized over time instead of being exclusively on purchase day due to players playing on Game Pass.
If you want to read more about Microsoft’s financial performance, you can check out the financial results announced earlier today. Other companies have also already announced their financials this quarter, including Koei Tecmo, Capcom, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft.
