Microsoft is hosting its financial conference call for investors and analysts related to the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024, and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood discussed the performance of the Xbox business.
During the livestreamed call, Nadella talked about the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, expressing his delight for the fact that it has finally been closed.
He also mentioned that this quarter, Xbox Game Pass set a record of hours played per subscriber.
We were delighted to close our acquisition of Activision Blizzard King this month. Together we will advance our goal of bringing great games to players everywhere on any endpoint.
Already with Game Pass, we are redefining how games are distributed, played, and discovered. We set a record for hours played per subscriber this quarter.
Nadella added that the number of people who have played Starfield is now over 11 million (up from the latest data we had, which was 10 million players), with nearly half of the hours played on PC. On top of that, the game has driven Game Pass subscriptions on launch day.
We released Starfield this quarter to broad acclaim. More than 11 million people have played the game to date. Nearly half of the hours played have been on PC, and on launch day we set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added on a single day ever
Nadella concluded with another mention of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, promising one of Microsoft's "strongest first-party holiday lineups ever."
Minecraft is now surprised 300 million copies sold and with Activision Blizzard King, we now add significant depth to our content portfolio. We will have 13 billion dollar-plus franchises from Candy Crush, Diablo, and Halo, to Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Gears of War.
And we're looking forward to one of our strongest first-party holiday lineups ever, including new titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Forza Motorsport.
During her segment of the call, Hood provided more color to the announced financial results, mentioning that the positive result with gaming revenue (which increased 9% year-on-year) was due "better-than-expected" subscriber growth in Xbox Game Pass as well as first-party content "primarily due to the Starfield launch."
She also provided the guidance for the current quarter (between October and December 2023). Microsoft expects revenue growth between "the mid and high forties" including roughly 35 points due to including the revenue from Activision, Blizzard, and King.
Xbox Content and Services revenue growth is expected "in the mid-to-high fifties," with 50 points due to the acquisition.
If you'd like to read more about Microsoft's financial performance, you can enjoy our dedicated article from earlier today with plenty more details.
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