Every three months, each company on the stock market gives a report detailing how the company has been doing—giving investors a hint at what is to come. Microsoft's report (which included Xbox) was absolutely stellar. According to the earnings report, Xbox has earned Microsoft an additional $550 million dollars in the last year—a 22% year-over-year increase—and the Series X and S haven't even been released yet.
Xbox went on a spending spree this year, flying in the face of all logic for a world in the middle of a pandemic, by purchasing Bethesda for an astronomical $7.5 billion (the most expensive acquisition in gaming history) and promising to buy even more studios.
According to Microsoft, gaming revenue grew by 30% since September of last year. This growth is largely attributed to third-party titles, Game Pass Subscriptions, and first-party titles. Xbox boss Phil Spencer, for his part, has shown little regard for the so-called console wars that Sony is allegedly winning—even going as far as saying that he doesn't care about outselling the PS5.
There is a method to Spencer's madness, though, because Xbox's prioritization of both cloud and subscription-based gaming has meant that the Xbox ecosystem has expanded immensely—at least theoretically. Since Game Pass is available on Mobile, PC, and Xbox, (and may come to Switch and PS5) Microsoft has exposure to gamers regardless of their preferred method of playing. Couple this with Xbox's studio and IP purchases and you have a formula that could place Microsoft (and Xbox) well ahead of all other gaming platforms.
That's to say nothing of the emerging game-streaming market that Xbox has been quick to adopt. If we toss that concept into play, (remembering that Microsoft has partnered with SpaceX to bring cloud computing to the entire planet via satellite) Microsoft has positioned itself to be the world's preeminent content and computing platform. Facebook, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna may have something to say about that, but with Microsoft's newly acquired content library, those platforms are going to have a difficult time keeping up—and they'll probably still be giving money to Microsoft.
Time will tell what happens in the world of gaming, but now that all of this information is on the table, one has to wonder if Sony is worried about the future.
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Source: Microsoft