Microsoft shared it Second quarter results for fiscal year 2024, and as expected this is positive news for Xbox. In its first earnings report since the deal closed in October, the tech giant revealed that its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard increased gaming revenue by 49 percent.
In Revenue call slides, Microsoft revealed that its gaming efforts are under its personal computer specialties. Gaming revenue grew 49%, with a “net impact of 44 points” from the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Elsewhere, Xbox content and services — which includes Game Pass — grew 61%, with 55 points coming from Activision's acquisition of Blizzard. Xbox hardware revenue rose 3% following a series of discounts and promotions over the holidays.
The disproportionate impact of Activision's Blizzard deal, one of the largest in games industry history, can be seen in Xbox's report. Activision Blizzard brings with it huge games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and more, giving the Xbox a big boost in almost every category. Xbox estimates the cumulative impact of the acquisition is worth about $2 billion, allowing gaming to surpass Windows as Microsoft's third-largest business.
Taken together, Microsoft generated $62 billion in revenue, an 18 percent increase driven largely by its office and cloud business.
However, the news comes at a difficult time for Xbox and the industry. Last week, Microsoft announced layoffs affecting its Xbox division, laying off 1,900 people. As a result of the layoffs, Activision Blizzard's survival game called Odyssey was cancelled, and people working on the game were laid off. Workers in Activision Blizzard's community, marketing, sports and QA divisions were also disproportionately affected by the layoffs. Meanwhile, Microsoft became the second company to cross the $3 trillion market cap.
Xbox is now expected to port some of its first-party games to other platforms through 2024, with plans to release MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Hellblade 2.
Taylor is a reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixter.
