Microsoft reports ‘best non-holiday quarter ever’ for Xbox revenue

Microsoft’s gaming business has posted record revenue for a non-holiday quarter.

On Tuesday the company announced its results for the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2022.

Gaming revenue was up 6% year-over-year, from $3.53 billion in Q3 2021 to $3.74 billion.

“That’s the best non-holiday quarter ever for Xbox,” said Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad following the publication of Microsoft’s results.

Microsoft said Xbox content and services revenue was up 4% year-over-year, with growth in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and first-party titles partially offset by declines from third-party games.

And it said Xbox hardware revenue increased 14% driven by continued demand for Xbox Series X/S.

UPDATE: During Microsoft’s earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Satya Nadella claimed strong Xbox Series X/S sales have seen the company capture market share for two quarters in a row.

“We are the market leader this quarter among the next-gen consoles in the United States, Canada, the UK and western Europe,” he said.

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: Xbox had its best March on record last month in the US, both in terms of consoles sold and dollar sales, according to NPD Group. Xbox Series X/S was also the best-selling console platform of the first quarter in dollars, the market research firm reported on Monday.

Xbox Series sales in Europe were higher than those of PS5 for the first time in February, and Xbox Series X/S were the top-selling consoles in the UK in March.

While Xbox Series X/S and PS5 have been available for nearly 18 months, both continue to suffer from stock issues as a result of a global chip shortage, although recently Microsoft’s consoles have been more readily available than Sony’s.

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Microsoft says Xbox has ‘taken market share globally for two quarters in a row’

“We are the market leader this quarter among the next-gen consoles”

Last week, Xbox games marketing general manager Aaron Greenberg endorsed VGChartz figures suggesting the company had sold 13.87 million Xbox Series X/S consoles in 17 months, compared to 9.38 million Xbox 360 consoles at the same stage of that platform’s lifecycle.

Xbox 360 would go on to become Microsoft’s best-selling console to date with 84 million units shipped.