Today Microsoft announced its FY2021 figures, showing record growth in its video games business.
Microsoft has enjoyed consistent year-over-year growth since it transformed Xbox from a console into a cross-platform service ecosystem. From the introduction of its industry-defining Xbox Game Pass service in FY2017, Microsoft has seen its Xbox segment take off not unlike its new Flight Simulator game.
Popular Now: You can now apply DLSS 5 Neural Rendering to your entire Windows desktopThis year marks the biggest spike in games revenue earnings. Throughout FY2021, Microsoft generated over $15 billion in earnings from Xbox (+37.2% year-over-year), including game and hardware sales, digital services, microtransactions, and multi-generation hardware.
Microsoft's gaming performance in FY21 was nearly $3.8 billion higher than the previous $11.575 billion record set in FY20, and was significantly amplified by coronavirus lockdown measures that surged in-game revenues and game sales. The launch of the Xbox Series X/S duo in holiday 2020 also helped increase revenues.
Remember that this isn't profit or net income. Microsoft will re-invest these earnings into first-party games development, multi-billion dollar R&D endeavors including AI, machine learning, and to help fund first-party games, as well as shore up infrastructures like Xbox LIVE and Project xCloud streaming.
