Even though the global semiconductor scarcity has had a negative impact on electronic gear sales over a previous couple of years, Microsoft’s new-generation Xbox Series X/S has managed to maintain its market share.
Following up on its latest quarter-end financial report, Microsoft revealed that its gaming revenue increased by 6 percent year on year for the January-March quarter, which coincidentally marked the best-ever quarter in Xbox history outside of the holiday season, as pointed out by Niko Partners’ senior analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter.
Xbox content and services revenue increased by 4 percent year on year, with the expansion of Xbox Game Pass and the sale of first-party titles accounting for the majority of the increase. Xbox’s content and revenue services surpassed $3 billion for the first time in the first quarter of any calendar year in the company’s history, marking a first in the company’s history. Xbox hardware revenue, on the other hand, increased by 14 percent, and Microsoft claims that the supply of the console has grown over the previous year.
The company’s CEO, Satya Nadella, provided additional details on the Xbox Series X/S’ commercial performance during the company’s earnings call with investors, revealing that the duo of consoles has captured the global console market share for two quarters in a row, with the two consoles also being the market leader for new-gen consoles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe.
According to Nadella, “With our Xbox Series S and X consoles, we have gained market share globally for the past two quarters in a row, and we are the market leader this quarter among next-generation consoles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe.”
While the PlayStation 5’s consistently constrained supplies and persistent stock shortages have undoubtedly contributed to the disparity in sales between the two consoles, there’s no denying that the Xbox Series X and Series S have enjoyed impressive sales momentum since their respective launches in November 2020 and that this momentum is expected to continue as the year progresses. At the moment, supply is, without a doubt, one of the most important factors influencing hardware sales, and it’s evident that Xbox is benefiting from Microsoft’s handling of the problem.
Microsoft ceased disclosing hardware sales data a long time ago, so we have no idea how well the Xbox Series X/S is doing in the global market right now. Although sources suggested that the two consoles had sold more than 12 million copies globally at the time of publication earlier this year, we should be able to have a better understanding of where the numbers are now.