Microsoft Predicts Better Results for Xbox’s Business Segments in Next Quarter Compared to Last Year

During Microsoft's financial call for investor that was just wrapped up, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood provided the forecast for the next fiscal quarter, related to the period between April 1st and June 30th.

[lifeisgamesok]

The sales will come later this year with Halo 5, Rise of The Tomb Raider, Forza 6 and Gears

[Eonjay]

Well, the holiday quarter is going to be up over quarter ending 3/31, but I think they are expecting higher sales this quarter as well.

Looking at the article, I think this can only mean that they plan on selling more consoles.

[mikeslemonade]

Duh.. I would hope your sales would be better with a larger install base compared to last year. Nothing special here, next article.

[Nekroo91]

Oh please theres no way Gears is coming out this year.

Unlike you, MS actually know what is doing, and launch dates are planned so the game doesent take sales from other exclusives.

September, October and November. Halo 5 in October because they wont go head to head against COD in November both titles sell alot of consoles for microsoft.

[KiwiViper85]

COD went head to head with H:MCC last year. I think a gears collection is a very educated guess.

[MasterBaker]

We will definetly not see gears this year, I think the earliest we'll see get it is fall 2016. But yeah, Halo 5 and tomb raider is a big plus for Xbox this holiday. I can see many halo fans buying an Xbox one just for Halo 5 as long as the game is good.

[metatronx]

Many big Halo fans already bought xbox1 when MCC released.

[Kal0psia]

^

Only the hardcore Halo fans. There are still plenty on the sideline, and given that this Halo should be something fairly unique since it's on a brand new console well it will most definitely attract non halo fans to jump in no doubt.

[choujij]

@metatronx

Every single Halo fan I know (including many I've been to tournaments with) purchased the Xbone by the time MCC came out.

I think it's more likely Tomb Raider will move more units this year than Halo 5 will.

[Xer0_SiN]

its called damage control. i mean, what are they supposed to do? go on record and predict that they gonna do even worst than this last quarter? see how silly that sounds? damage control.

[diehardmetallicafans]

not likely

[700p]

you get disagrees cus of your positives for xbox. wow lmao

[Foehammer]

2.1 to 2.2 Billion estimate for next quarter revenue. Perhaps 20% increase.

That's a good increase, I wonder what E3 has in-store to drive these predictions.

Looking forward to even more great games

[Abriael]

E3 doesn't figure much in the prediction, because it's only until June 30st.

The only thing that comes to mind that could have a meaningful impact is if Microsoft comes out and says "starting today, we're cutting the Xbox One's price by another $50" on stage.

[Bigpappy]

I strongly disagree with that assertion Abriael.

I think they believe they have enough to show just before and during E3 to excite gamers enough that they would want to run out and buy enough Xbox Ones to push sales higher that they were last year. Don't se why that would be and unreasonable expectation, given things like Win10 and DX12 coming to X1 along with many games that will be using the new tech. Form the first week of June until the 30th is plenty of time to sell plenty hardware, if there is enough to be excited about. In fact that will be the hottest period of sales as a result of E3.

I think stunning games and exciting new feature could sell more consoles than another price cut. At this point, I doubt price is a factor affecting the sales on X1.

[Eonjay]

Thats hard to say because if they did cut the price, wouldn't revenue go down. They woulf to ship alot more. There are an incredible amount of caveats too like the unbundled offering last year. Im just not convinced that a price cut could lead to a 20% revenue increase, but it would increase Sales.

[Abriael]

@Bigpappy: most people don't run out and buy a console out of something happening months afterwards.

Things like DirectX 12 won't affect sales for the 10 days after E3 all that much.

[Automatic79]

@Abrial

Or a possibility can be a new Xbox One starting in June.

[Eonjay]

@MichaelLito79

Now that is a good idea

[Bigpappy]

@Abriael: " most people don't run out and buy a console out of something happening months afterwards."

You are making and assumption that everything they announce will be effective months away. I think they believe they have something that would do just that (make customers run out and buy right after the announcement).
I am not saying they will succeed, but I am saying they could if it is impactful enough. It does have to be DX12 relate, even though it very well could, it could be something game related and exclusive to X1 that they can announce and say "starting now" or tomorrow. Not likely to be another price drop.

[Rookie_Monster]

Why would MS Need another price drop? It sold less this quarter compared to last year's FY third quarter simply because the X360 and last gen consoles just don't sell anymore being it is another year older and the lower revenue is due to it being $150 cheaper than last year. The period from Jan to March tend to be the slowest selling periods in the industry due to it being post holidays..that goes for all consoles.

Overall, during the 9 months of FY 2015, MS have sold a total of 10.7 million xbox consoles compared to 10.6 of the first 9 months of FY 2014.

[WeAreLegion]

Can we talk about "30st"?

[Kiwi66]

Yet if they did do a price drop you would have the typical "they're desperate" comments from certain people just like when a store has an xbox deal plus if they have the games they will move consoles so maybe a price cut isn't the answer

[ChrisChambers]

Ok so here's a longshot prediction

Microsoft does it's E3 conference, shows all the bells and whistles you'd expect, possibly another price drop. Then right at the end Phil Spencer says "Oh and one last thing, the Gears of War trilogy has been remastered and is available to download right now on Xbox Live"..

Yeah, I know it's a longshot, but a man can dream

[SmielmaN]

It would be cool to see but is it a system seller?

[ChrisChambers]

I know roughly 10 people that are waiting for anything Gears related to come out before they dump their 360s. Obviously that doesn't mean they'll sell 10 million consoles because of it but I'm sure it would move decent units. Especially if it was combined with a price drop or had the game included for the $350 price

[KiwiViper85]

Free to download until the end of june.

I rewards fans that already own an Xbox One, and entices others to rush out and buy one...

[star_lancer]

"It's available now" surprises at E3 generally don't work too well (cough, cough...Sega Saturn...cough, cough).

Though, a software announcement would be a lot less risky.

My E3 longshot is ending the conference with the announcement of Minecraft 2.

[ChrisChambers]

@star_lancer

What could be done in Minecraft 2 that the original couldn't do? (serious question, I never played Minecraft but I do know the basics of it)

@KiwiViper85

Price drop on new consoles paired with a 10 day window to download Gears for free? That would sell some hardware. Better start spamming Phil Spencer on twitter!

[jackwei22]

Master Chief will sell Xbox consoles this fall for sure and I think Gears is coming out in 2016.

[Thatguy-310]

You sound like Nintendo fans with Mario kart and smash bros. I'm pretty sure a good chunk of those that like those games already have the console. In order for them to pick up steam they need to release quality exclusives that would get the industry talking so word of mouth can make people pick up an Xbox one.

[star_lancer]

"I'm pretty sure a good chunk of those that like those games already have the console."

People said that all last generation, yet 360 sales always surged whenever a new Halo or Gears was released.

[TheColbertinator]

In order to defeat Sony,Microsoft must team up with Sega and make Shenmue 3

/winning strategy

[MasterBaker]

They should really spread out the exclusives through the the whole year and not just shove them all until the holiday season. But I think they're starting to get it, that's why they pushed quantum break until 2016 or else it might not have sold as much, because there are so many games releasing during the holidays.

[magiciandude]

MS would release games all around the year if they can. This isn't the case this year because, well, developers can't create games out of thin air. Last year Sony launched inFamous SS and Driveclub, but that was all for the major first party releases. Sony pushed UC4 to next year, and they will likely moneyhat third party cross platform games, aka CoD and Battlefront, for timed exclusive content to carry them through the holiday.

[KiwiViper85]

Not this year, but holiday 2015 onward, games will start flowing out...

[Godz Kastro]

They just needed to get through rough patch with price drop and re sculpting their image.its all business from this point forward so I do agree with this article.

[illtownNJONE]

MS is quiet for a reason

[MasterCornholio]

In my opinion Microsoft isn't the quiet one.

[PhoenixUp]

How is it that PS3 and Xbox One can sell faster than the 360 and people say they struggled out the gate. Rarely do you here someone say 360 struggled as well.

[hello12]

Revenue down 24% if you reduce the price the estimated revenue falls for that year. It only considered a lose if they paying the same price for the hardware?

Software and x box live subscriptions are up so its only hardware thats down from the projections estimated.

Microsoft E3 and after will test the waters. Microsoft windows 10 is out this year and dx12 will we see dx12 games lot can change in the next year.

[MCTJim]

exactly, the revenue is down from last year...its not like they didn't make money, just not as much as last year.. LOL people see down 24% and oh no xbox is tanking...no, they made money, just not as much as the same period last year....and.......the biggest profits for electronics and video game companies is the Christmas season..most of these companies make their money in the last 3 months of the year when the newest releases take place.

[ScorpiusX]

Keep what you think is right and do what you need to do & you got my money .