Back in 2015, Microsoft decided to keep a lid on Xbox sales numbers, and just recently, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart spilled the beans on why. Speaking at the Wells Fargo 2023 TMT Summit, Stuart shared that Microsoft thinks throwing out a simple unit sales number doesn’t really give the full picture of how Xbox is doing overall.
While rivals Sony and Nintendo regularly drop their hardware sales digits, Xbox tends to hang back, possibly because it’s not sitting pretty at the top of the console sales charts compared to PlayStation and Switch.
Stuart explained at the summit, “At first it was like, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘You’re the Xbox business and you’re not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.’ But it was really the first point of us saying, no, no, it’s about content and services.”
For Stuart, success isn’t just about how many Xbox consoles are out there; it’s about the number of fans they’ve got and how much cash Xbox is pulling in as a brand. And let’s be real, Xbox isn’t just a console brand anymore.
Phil Spencer backed this up earlier, saying that console sales numbers don’t really tell you how healthy the Xbox ecosystem is. Stuart’s gig is to make sure Xbox is reaching more people and those people are dropping more cash on Xbox stuff. Microsoft’s playing the long game here, giving players all kinds of ways to spend money – buying games, jumping on Game Pass, or even watching ads for mobile games.
Stuart spilled the beans on Microsoft’s game plan for places like Africa, India, and Southeast Asia, where consoles aren’t as big a deal. Over there, it’s all about streaming and mobile games. Smart move, considering the mobile game scene is where the big bucks are rolling in.
He threw some numbers into the mix, estimating that the console market is somewhere in the “couple hundred million” range, PCs hit about 400 million, but when it comes to mobile, we’re talking billions. No wonder Microsoft went all out to snag Activision Blizzard, diving into mobile gaming with hits like Candy Crush, Call of Duty Mobile, and more.
