Xbox Series X|S are the company’s fastest selling consoles ever, say Microsoft

Xbox Series X|S are the company’s fastest selling consoles ever, say Microsoft
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the Xbox Series X|S are the company’s fastest selling consoles ever during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call this week.

According to the transcript (spotted by Video Games Chronicle), Nadella said on the call: The Xbox Series S and X are our fastest selling consoles ever with more consoles sold life-to-date than any previous generation.” Research firm Niko Partners also estimated on Twitter that the number of consoles shifted was a whopping 6.5 million as of June 30, 2021. In the same time frame, it said, the Xbox One reached 5.7m and the Xbox 360 just 5 million.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the company’s gaming division, Nadella also touted the success of Xbox Game Pass. He claimed that subscribers play “approximately 40 percent more games and spend 50 percent more than non-members.” The company did admit that Xbox content and services revenue declined by 4% but did note hardware revenue was up 172% “driven by demand for our new consoles.” Overall gaming revenue, in the end, apparently increased by 11%.

Of course, the ongoing global pandemic was said to be a big factor in the differences between 2020 and 2021, especially as more places open up as the world recovers compared to last year. On top of that, the ongoing hardware supply issues have also been a big factor, with CFO Amy Hood saying that “console growth will against be constrained by supply” for the current quarter, which ends on September 30. Hood also noted “In gaming, we expect revenue growth in the low double digits,” and added “On a strong prior year comparable, Xbox content and services revenue should grow low single digits.”