Microsoft’s Xbox department just reported a profit of $3. 9 billion, the largest first quarter for its gaming department. . . never. And Bethesda’s Starfield deserves much of the credit.
This figure is unexpected as it follows an actual 7% drop in actual Xbox hardware revenue, but that’s offset by a 13% increase in content and services. Earlier, Xbox reported that Starfield marked the biggest launch ever made for Bethesda, due to its inclusion in Game Pass. Now, Microsoft has said that the launch of Starfield led to the biggest day of Game Pass subscriptions in the service’s history, which of course was its plan. It didn’t reveal any new totals for Game Pass subscriptions. as it hadn’t done since January 2022, when that figure was 25 million.
Starfield’s Good Luck is meant to show how Microsoft can produce big, successful hits even if the game in question is “free” Game Pass. Starfield, on its own, has generated non-Game Pass sales and more expensive editions tied to Early. Access. A long-term DLC addition that you had to acquire beyond Game Pass. Game Pass registers on its own. At least a certain amount of hardware sales. It’s a huge network, and it would be even more so if it was a game that also sold microtransactions above all, which it doesn’t.
There’s a very socially-centric opinion that Starfield was a flop because it scored lower than Bethesda’s previous mainline games and possibly wouldn’t win GOTY like previous entries (it may not even be nominated in many circles). But the game boasted a number impresionante. de players, not only at launch, but just two months later, where it remains one of the most productive games on Xbox among a sea of popular multiplayer titles, and on Steam, where it still tops out at 60,000 concurrent players per day. It’s a single-player game, with no continuous content, no expansion yet, no official mod support, available on a platform where you can also get it seamlessly through PC Game Pass. It’s awesome.
The question now is: Will Xbox be able to do it again? Starfield is a huge success, but it’s also very likely to be one of the biggest exclusive IP releases of the entire console generation. Yes, Microsoft has other wonderful games in the works, Fable, Perfect Dark, Avowed, a new Gears game, Hellblade, etc. , but none of them have the maximum chance of being a great “Starfield”. Not until Elder Scrolls VI, the maximum probability, which is at least five years away at this point.
But this will most likely happen at least twice thanks to some other game, Call of Duty. It’s easy to believe that the first time Call of Duty launches on Xbox Game Pass, it will be another moment of radical change, because suddenly players will be able to get the best-selling game of the year, each and every year, in Free Play Pass. » Even if it remains cross-platform, it will still be a big draw for the ecosystem. It will be next year, not this year, where Modern Warfare 3 will launch normally, and the acquisition has just been finalized in recent weeks.
Microsoft is still very cautious about the actual Game Pass numbers for unknown reasons, but the profit figures speak for themselves, and after tens and tens of billions of dollars spent on acquisitions, yes, it’s starting to pay off.
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