Microsoft May Have Just Given Us A Rare Glimpse At Xbox Series X|S Sales Numbers
After not sharing official sales figures for its gaming consoles for nearly a decade, Microsoft may have inadvertently revealed sales figures for the Xbox Series X|S and the Xbox One series. At Brazil's largest gaming event, Microsoft confirmed the sale of more than 21 million Xbox Series X|S consoles since their launch in November 2020.
These figures were announced during the ID@Xbox keynote, part of BIG Festival 2023, which is underway and aligns with analysts' predictions in recent months. These figures were first shared by Twitter user @Welfare_JBP who credits another user, @LucasTaves, for these findings. Along with the sales figures for the Xbox Series X and S, Microsoft also revealed that more than 79 million units of the Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S have been sold to date, suggesting the previous series has roughly 58 million sold units under its name.
Xbox Series X|S console sales are at 21M+ according to Microsoft at BIG Festival in Brazil.
Credit to @LucasTaves for this information. This is all part of an ID@Xbox presentation pic.twitter.com/cOYtQSfwxN
— John Welfare (@Welfare_JBP) June 29, 2023
Being transparent about the Xbox sales figures is not common for Microsoft, which stopped sharing sales figures for its Xbox gaming consoles in 2015 — coincidentally after being eclipsed by Sony's PlayStation 4 by a wide margin. Since then, the company has insisted sales figures do not represent success accurately and has relied on another metric — engagement — to portray the impact of its gaming consoles.
Why is Microsoft having a change of heart now?
It appears Microsoft may be looking to soften the blow from antitrust regulators in different countries that are closely watching its proposed acquisition of gaming studio Activision Blizzard. Currently topping the list of opposers is the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which sued Microsoft in December 2022, alleging that the deal would give it a monopoly over online gaming subscription services, especially Activision's highest-sold title: Call of Duty.
During the freshly-concluded Microsoft vs. FTC hearing, the former argued it has been reeling under pressure from competitors in the gaming console space. It even testified it had "lost the console wars" to Sony and Nintendo, with barely 16% of the market share as of 2021.
While this gracious attempt to call itself third — and last — in the gaming consoles sales seemed to be a method to garner a favorable judgment and evade more blockages, the recently revealed numbers confirm its positioning. Earlier this year, Sony confirmed it has sold nearly 39 million units of the PlayStation 5, which was launched in the same month as the Xbox Series X|S and faced a severe supply crunch for over a year. Meanwhile, Nintendo had sold nearly 125 million Switch units till February 2023 since its launch in 2017.
Microsoft wants developers to add in-game ads
Microsoft did not stop at sharing figures for its consoles alone but reported more metrics during the presentation, courtesy of another Twitter user — @IdleSloth84_ — who also credits @LucasTaves as the source of this information. It shared that 15.6 million monthly active users currently use the Xbox app across consoles and Windows, and the figure has increased by 20% year-on-year. It added that there are roughly 250 million active Windows-based gaming PCs worldwide.
15.6M – Monthly active Xbox app users
20% – Monthly active Xbox app users YoY growth
85 – PC markets with Game Pass248.6M – Active Windows Gaming PCs
168.3M – Monthly Windows Store Vistors
3% YoY increase in paid unique users pic.twitter.com/O9ACRQPsmn— Idle Sloth💙💛 (@IdleSloth84_) June 29, 2023
Microsoft further conveyed there are more than 400 titles for the Xbox lineup and over 300 titles for PC under Game Pass, which is available in 85 markets globally. There are 300-plus titles available for streaming through Xbox Remote Play with over a billion compatible devices worldwide. Microsoft still omitted the number of Game Pass users, which was last revealed in January 2022 to be 25 million.
Microsoft highlights the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico as the three regions with the largest number of new gamers. It adds that nearly half of the new gamers on the Xbox series are those who bought the more affordable Xbox Series S console. Lastly, for developers, Microsoft spoke above revenue streams, including game sales and in-game purchases, and indicated the possibility of introducing in-game advertisements.