Xbox hardware sales, including those for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and other accessories, have dropped during the holiday season of 2022. More specifically, Microsoft has released its financial results for the second quarter of FY 2023 (that’s October 2022 to December 2022) and it reveals that Xbox hardware sales have dipped by 13%. That’s not a great figure considering that it’s still early in this console generation.
Xbox sales decline could be due to lack of exclusives
The bad news doesn’t end there, either. As reported by Twitter user DomsPlaying, who shares slides from Microsoft’s financial report that released today (shown in the tweet above), gaming revenue has declined by 13% and Xbox content and services have dipped by 12%. This is despite a growth in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, though the report doesn’t say by how much.
In particular, the report notes that there were “declines in first-party content and lower monetization in third-party content.” This has led to several users reacting to the news on Resetera by pointing out the lack of exclusive content on Xbox consoles, specifically high-profile triple-A games. Xbox boss Phil Spencer admitted as much on the Same Brain podcast in October 2022 that “it’s been too long since we’ve shipped what people would say is a big first-party game.”
The upcoming Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct showcase will hopefully fill this gap as it will show Forza Motorsport, Redfall, Minecraft Legends, and The Elder Scrolls Online. A showcase dedicated to Starfield will also air later this year.
