You might think Xbox is spiraling, but Microsoft’s leadership disagrees — and their bonuses say so. Against expectations, the gaming division has met its business objectives for the first time since 2020.

The chatter around Xbox hasn’t stopped in months: aggressive price hikes, layoffs, and cancellations of long-awaited projects raised eyebrows and fueled the “crisis” narrative. Financially, though, that story doesn’t hold: Microsoft’s latest official filings say the gaming brand hit its commercial goals for the first time since 2020.

Those filings indicate Satya Nadella and other top executives will receive bonuses tied to Xbox’s strong commercial performance. At the start of the fiscal year, Microsoft set a revenue growth target of at least 14%, and the gaming division ultimately beat that by 15 percentage points. As journalist Stephen Totilo wrote in Game File: “These revenues don’t necessarily reflect the overall health of the Xbox division, as they don’t take into account profitability or other business objectives, but they do end a losing streak for the brand.”

Chasing More Revenue

Xbox has leaned into more aggressive strategies to grow the top line. According to Microsoft, the profit uplift partly came from releasing first-party games on other consoles: “We have been the most important publisher on both Xbox and PlayStation thanks to major launches such as Forza Horizon 5 or Oblivion Remastered. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set new records for the franchise in terms of players on its ‘day one’ and number of new Game Pass subscribers on its ‘day one’; being played by more than 50 million people for more than 2 billion hours since its release.”

Higher revenue is great for shareholders, but it doesn’t automatically translate into better treatment for players. Independent reports this week suggest Microsoft is focused not only on growing Xbox’s intake, but also on expanding margins — which is why cuts, price increases, and tactics to sell more copies have taken center stage.

With a “very premium, high-end” console reportedly around the corner, the brand’s next chapter remains to be seen. It’s also worth noting that the effects of measures like console and Game Pass price hikes aren’t reflected in this report; they’ll show up next year. That’s when we’ll learn whether Xbox can sustain this momentum.

Source: 3DJuegos