Xbox Game Pass seems to only be increasing in popularity, with the cloud service continuing to add plenty of choice for players. In fact, according to Microsoft, the hours played by gamers has been on the rise.
Microsoft had a good fourth quarter
According to a report from VGC, the Xbox company has recorded a revenue increase of $36 million, despite the fact that hardware profits were down 13%. However, this boost in gaming revenue for fourth quarter (June) does fall short of Microsoft’s forecast.
On top of that, Xbox Game Pass has seen an increase in hours played, which was up 22% year-over-year. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a recent earnings call that this represents a “record fourth quarter engagement across Game Pass.”
While things look to be good for the tech giant, it wasn’t that long ago that the company claimed Xbox had lost the console wars, trailing behind PlayStation and Nintendo.
But an increase of $36 million (a 1% growth compared to the previous fiscal year) still shows that Xbox is a force to be reckoned with in the modern gaming era. Much of this has been driven by both third-party content and Game Pass itself.
More and more people, it seems, are turning to subscription services for their gaming needs. Xbox Game Pass is arguably the king of this at the moment, and these figures show that it’s fast becoming the first choice for many people.
It was also recently revealed that Xbox Live Gold is due to be replaced with something called Game Pass Core. This new service will function in a similar vain to Gold, but it shows that Microsoft is looking to make some changes to its system.
