Summary
The past few months have been big forXbox Game Pass, with the subscription service setting a major new record for quarterly revenue. Microsoft has veered away from the likes of Sony and Nintendo recently, focusing more on software and services than putting out new hardware. It seems to be working, too, withXbox Game Passseeing strong performance in both sales and activity from existing customers.
This isn’t the first bit of good financial news Microsoft’s gaming segment has received lately. Recent industry analysis showed thatMicrosoft was December 2024’s top game publisherby a long margin, with much of its revenue coming from Microsoft-published games bought and played on other company’s consoles. The tech giant’s latest earnings call has now detailed just how strong its subscription service has been over the past few months.
Call of Duty and Indiana Jones Propelled Xbox Game Pass to a Record Quarter
Call of Dutywasn’t the only game that helped push Xbox Game Pass to new heights. The earnings call also mentionedIndiana Jones and the Great Circle,citing “rave reviews.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted howIndiana Jonesdrew over 4 million playerssince its December 2024 release. While not all of those customers played the game on Game Pass, it certainly helped the service gain prominence, especially because the game was available as a day-one release on the platform.
Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, had a big quarter, too. Players streamed a record 140 million hours on the service in the past quarter, and Microsoft will likely lean into that trend going forward. The company has already announced that severalCall of Dutytitles are coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming, which could draw more users to the platform. Whether the future will go the way Microsoft expects it to in terms of cloud gaming and continued Game Pass growth has yet to be seen, but things have worked out well for the company so far.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you’re able to play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
