During the Q4 2021 earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reiterated the company’s commitment to gaming. He also revealed that the Xbox Series S and X consoles that debuted on November 10th, 2020 are the fastest-selling Microsoft has ever built.
Gaming is the largest category in the entertainment industry, and we are expanding our opportunity to reach the world’s 3 billion gamers wherever and whenever they play. We are all in on games. At E3 last month, we unveiled our biggest games lineup ever, announcing 27 new titles, which will all be available to Game Pass subscribers. Game Pass is growing rapidly and it’s transforming how people discover, connect and play games. Subscribers play approximately 40% more games and spend 50% more than nonmembers.
We continue to lead in the fast-growing cloud gaming market with last month — just last month, we made Xbox Cloud gaming available on PCs as well as Apple phones and tablets via the browser in 22 countries with more to come. Millions have already streamed games to their desktops, tablets and phones. And the Xbox Series S and X are our fastest-selling consoles ever, with more consoles sold live to date than any previous generation.
Finally, we continue to grow our opportunity in the creator economy, adding new ways for players to build and monetize their creations in many of our most popular games, including Flight Simulator and Minecraft. Creators earned more than double what they did a year ago across our titles. [Credits to Seeking Alpha for the transcript]
The comment from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is particularly valuable as the company stopped sharing hardware units sales a long while ago. However, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad revealed estimates that put combined sales of the Xbox Series S and X to 6.5 million units as of the end of last month, compared to 5.7 million units for the Xbox One and 5 million units for Xbox 360 in the same timeframe.
Of course while the Xbox One shipped more than the 360 early on, the 360 outsold it over time.
The Series X|S should do a better job maintaining its lead given its dual SKU strategy and content + Game Pass focus this generation.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 27, 2021
Do you own an Xbox Series S|X or plan to buy one? What do you think of the gaming push sponsored by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella? Let us know in the comments.
