Current-gen fatigue is to blame for Microsoft’s 48% decline in Xbox hardware sales

It’s the end of the gen as we know it, and I feel fine. Microsoft has just released its fourth-quarter 2019 financial report, and while the numbers within are potent enough to double as chartered accountant Viagra, it did paint an interesting picture of the near future for the brand.

While it wasn’t an awful quarter for team green, it wasn’t exactly a stellar one either. In a nutshell (Cheers, VG247), gaming revenue and Xbox One hardware sales are in decline, with gaming revenue falling to a 10% dip in year on year revenue, Xbox software and services falling a further 3% and hardware revenue being down by a massive 48%.

Microsoft reckons that the blame lies with people saving their pennies for the next generation of consoles instead, what with the Xbox One currently existing in the endgame of its lifecycle and all. The 2020 fiscal year will also see a dip in sales, as Microsoft expects the year ahead to see an increase in products such as Xbox Game Pass met with a decrease in overall console sales.

In the good news everyone department, Xbox Live users increased to a total of 65 million subscribers, helped primarily by the service finally reaching the PC platform and a certain lifehack that saw Xbox Game Pass snatched up for a mere pittance when users upgraded their membership. Still, the future should look interesting for Microsoft as they forge ahead on the next-gen with Project Scarlett O’Hara.

The console hardware sounds ludicrously good thanks not only to some graphical upgrades that’ll provide quadruple the power of its current behemoth, the Xbox One X, but also a decent next-gen solid-state drive that’ll make those games load quicker than poop through a goose. While Microsoft may be experiencing a dip currently, the Xbox brand is still making enough scratch to keep Team Green in the green if you know what I mean.

Last Updated: July 22, 2019