Microsoft Forced To Reveal Poor Sales Figures For Xbox Hardware

A recent earnings report from Microsoft has revealed declining sales for Xbox hardware. But just how badly is Xbox doing?

Xbox series x vs xbox series s
Sales are down on the current generation of Xbox. | © Xbox

Despite Game Pass being one of the best deals on the market, and hype for this year's Xbox-exclusive Starfield continuing to grow, Microsoft are struggling to sell consoles. In a recent earnings report, Microsoft were forced to admit just how much of a problem they were having...

  • The Xbox Series S remains the cheapest way to get into present-gen gaming.

Xbox Hardware Sales Down 30%

Microsoft's most recent earnings report is sadly quite depressing, with Xbox hardware sales down a whopping 30%. In fact, gaming revenue in general was down by 4% for Microsoft, but there was at least one silver lining: "content and services revenue" (Game Pass) grew by 3%.

Of course, this news makes it all the more bizarre that the CMA have chosen to block Microsoft's purchase of Activision. How the hell can Xbox be expected to try and compete with Nintendo and Sony without a major publisher buyout like that? You could say "make a better next-gen console", but it's a lot more difficult than that, given how many customers are now invested in the ecosystem of other platforms.

What can the solution be for poor-old Xbox? Maybe they copy Sony and try to make a handheld to compete with the Switch?

With Starfield on this list, surely we will see Xbox sales rise later in the year:

Jon Ramuz

Jon has a BA and an MA in English Literature, and as Content Lead for EarlyGame has written over 1,500 articles. He focuses on shooters, but also writes about entertainment and gaming in general....