Before the next arrival of the new generation of consoles that will see the launch of Xbox Scarlett or Project Scarlett (whatever you feel like calling it) in the holiday season of 2020, Microsoft decided to take an important turn to its financial report in terms of everything that pertains to its games division.
In that sense, they chose to use a new category to consider the metrics that are relevant to its business model and this has been accompanied by the disclosure of unfavorable results. Microsoft presented its corresponding financial report with the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, which for them covers July – September 2019, and the games division does not have much to celebrate.
Initially, the American company informed that from this report it will no longer make public the number of active Xbox LIVE users, so the last official record is 65 million last July. According to Microsoft, this is due to the implementation of a new metric focused on its games division, which considers indicators under the category of content and services.
That said, the information related to the games division showed a growth of only 1% in revenues generated by content and services compared to that recorded in the same quarter but last year. Also, revenues from its video game business fell 7%. Similarly, the hardware sales sector continues to decline, and the report confirmed a 34% drop in sales.
Given these results, Amy Hood, chief financial officer of Microsoft, reported that the company’s expectations for the second quarter of the fiscal year contemplate downward results due to the negative trend in hardware sales and the launch of few important titles at this stage.
Finally, Microsoft reported that the revenue generation of the gaming division during the first quarter of fiscal year 2020 has rested on the good market performance that Minecraft has, the same situation of its subscription services and the operations that have to do with “an important third-party title”, which is known to be Fortnite.
In other news, the Microsoft games division, particularly the one that has to do with Xbox, has undergone major changes in the previous one to what will be the next generation that will be marked by the launch of Project Scarlett. As you know, one of the division’s strong bets has to do with services and its online offer, which operates through Xbox LIVE.
Microsoft’s gaming division reported that as of November 1, Harvey Eagle, who served as the business area leader for the brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland, will become director of marketing for Xbox LIVE, where he will have the responsibility of promoting the new strategy of the platform to develop it globally.
According to the information, Eagle will work directly with the areas of engineering, marketing, business and development studies to properly integrate its proposals to the Xbox online platform.
In this regard, Eagle made the following statement.
I am excited to assume the global mandate to grow one of the most valuable communities we have, that of Xbox Live.
Harvey Eagle’s experience in the Microsoft gaming division dates back to 2000, when he joined the company and soon became part of the marketing strategy team for the first Xbox.
