Xbox earned $2.25 billion on games in the quarter
Microsoft reported earnings for the third fiscal quarter of 2018, which ended for the company on March 31 of this year. The Xbox division’s revenue during this period reached $2.251 billion. This is 18% more than at the same time last year.
The company explained the main driver of revenue growth as “strong performance of titles from third-party publishers.”
The Venture Beat edition suggests that by “title from third-party publishers” Microsoft means the “battle royale” of Fortnite by Epic Games.
“Many players bought cosmetic items for their characters in Fortnite. In addition, the popular title prompted gamers to pay for a premium Xbox Live Gold account, which is necessary for multiplayer games,” explains Venture Beat.
Microsoft’s own projects also contributed. In the last quarter, Sea of Thieves, published by Redmont, distinguished itself. The cooperative pirate action movie gathered more than 1 million players in the first two weeks and became the fastest-selling Rare studio game in 23 years.
In addition, in the last quarter, the Xbox Live audience reached 59 million people, an increase of 13% compared to the same period last year.
Venture Beat also notes that Microsoft has begun to invest more in the gaming business. The corporation’s operating expenses increased by 5% last quarter.
Additional funds went to the development of the gaming platform and developments in the field of artificial intelligence.
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