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Microsoft reports strong Surface, Xbox, and cloud growth for Q3 2021

pratyush

Member
I hope you people actually get paid for this. Numbers look great no doubt but they aren't outstanding. Still no breakup of revenue by Microsoft and jump of 232% in hardware sales is great but when you consider its challenger was Xbox one then it doesn't make it such a huge jump.

Don't know why so many here getting triggered because people are asking for absolute numbers like units sold and Gamepass revenue ( not even profit) ( Please point me if they exist). Stop shilling for company which doesn't even know you exist. Same thing goes for Sony people.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I spent 500 Euros on a Dragon Ball gacha game. I tell myself it was because of nostalgia and not because I'm a weeb.

tenor.gif
 

yazenov

Member
I hope you people actually get paid for this. Numbers look great no doubt but they aren't outstanding. Still no breakup of revenue by Microsoft and jump of 232% in hardware sales is great but when you consider its challenger was Xbox one then it doesn't make it such a huge jump.

Don't know why so many here getting triggered because people are asking for absolute numbers like units sold and Gamepass revenue ( not even profit) ( Please point me if they exist). Stop shilling for company which doesn't even know you exist. Same thing goes for Sony people.

Yes, nothing wrong with transparency and asking for more numbers. Its funny being called a troll for asking for details rather than receiving incomplete data and basing conclusions on it.
 
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geary

Gold Member
Funny that in MS thread as in this one, we are talking millions and billions of dollars like is nothing...but when a game goes from 60$ to 70$ is the end of the world :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
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reksveks

Member
I hope you people actually get paid for this. Numbers look great no doubt but they aren't outstanding. Still no breakup of revenue by Microsoft and jump of 232% in hardware sales is great but when you consider its challenger was Xbox one then it doesn't make it such a huge jump.

Don't know why so many here getting triggered because people are asking for absolute numbers like units sold and Gamepass revenue ( not even profit) ( Please point me if they exist). Stop shilling for company which doesn't even know you exist. Same thing goes for Sony people.
I don't mind the call for more transparency (actually wanted to see the Gamepass numbers and MAU) but I don't like the fact that people insinuate that this is a Microsoft only thing. Company's do this all the time and Sony has seemingly done it with ps now numbers, they do it in other parts of their businesses that just aren't their priorities.
 

Godot25

Banned
We just got the Sony financial today and you could see all those numbers crystal clear. Yet here you are reaching for PS now subs? LOL ok i''ll give you that W :messenger_tears_of_joy:
You were the one who need all the info from everyone :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Rest of us understands, that PS Now subscribers number is not important for Sony's shareholders so they are not providing it. Which is perfectly fine.
 
I hope you people actually get paid for this. Numbers look great no doubt but they aren't outstanding. Still no breakup of revenue by Microsoft and jump of 232% in hardware sales is great but when you consider its challenger was Xbox one then it doesn't make it such a huge jump.

Don't know why so many here getting triggered because people are asking for absolute numbers like units sold and Gamepass revenue ( not even profit) ( Please point me if they exist). Stop shilling for company which doesn't even know you exist. Same thing goes for Sony people.

In an ideal world, hardware sales should have grown >300%, but the Xbox Series X remains heavily supply constrained. Not sure about the US, but here in the UK it's nearly impossible to get your hands on one. As both Microsoft and Sony said in their earnings release, demand is far outstripping supply; as long as that is the case, there is a lot of room for those numbers to grow in the future.

As for reporting additional numbers and KPIs, Microsoft doesn't owe you any number. We've already been through this like 10 times throughout this thread. As a financial analyst myself, in an ideal world I'd love it if companies could disclose every KPI they measure, but the reality is that (i) information overflow is a thing, and (ii) some of those KPIs are commercially-sensitive which is why companies only tend to focus on the key ones (gaming is not "key" for Microsoft) and those that generally portray the company in a better light.
 
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Godot25

Banned
So you're saying profits, unit sales, software sales are not important to Microsoft ? Ok buddy.
I explained to you few pages ago why profits in Xbox division are not important "right now"
And why software sales are not giving full picture because Microsoft is betting on subscription service which will by design lower number of software sold
And why Xbox unit sales are just part of picture because Microsoft is heavily invested in PC market and has started it's presence in gaming cloud (which Nadella even commented that Xbox grew in console business but also outside of console business). You realise, that you can be part of Xbox ecosystem (buying first-party games and subscribing into Xbox services) without buying an actual Xbox console, right?

Microsoft (and their shareholders) cares about growth of Xbox business, MAU and number of Game Pass subs. And that's number they are providing.

It's funny. Shareholders don't care about Xbox profitability but somehow GAF users care about it. Geez, I wonder why.
 

pratyush

Member
In an ideal world, hardware sales should have grown >300%, but the Xbox Series X remains heavily supply constrained. Not sure about the US, but here in the UK it's nearly impossible to get your hands on one. As both Microsoft and Sony said in their earnings release, demand is far outstripping supply; as long as that is the case, there is a lot of room for those numbers to grow in the future.

As for reporting additional numbers and KPIs, Microsoft doesn't owe you any number. We've already been through this like 10 times throughout this thread. As a financial analyst myself, in an ideal world I'd love it if companies could disclose every KPI they measure, but the reality is that (i) information overflow is a thing, and (ii) some of those KPIs are commercially-sensitive which is why companies only tend to focus on the key ones (gaming is not "key" for Microsoft) and those that generally portray the company in a better light.
Not sure what got into you with that tone. Microsoft isn't giving number because they are not impressive. Sure they don't owe me anything but I don't owe them anything so I will say what I think. If you don't like what I say, maybe try not responding?

As for your I am expert comment, giving how many units sold is done by every company out there who has nothing to hide. It's not as if people are asking for some secret plan.
 
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yazenov

Member
I explained to you few pages ago why profits in Xbox division are not important "right now"
And why software sales are not giving full picture because Microsoft is betting on subscription service which will by design lower number of software sold
And why Xbox unit sales are just part of picture because Microsoft is heavily invested in PC market and has started it's presence in gaming cloud (which Nadella even commented that Xbox grew in console business but also outside of console business). You realise, that you can be part of Xbox ecosystem (buying first-party games and subscribing into Xbox services) without buying an actual Xbox console, right?

Microsoft (and their shareholders) cares about growth of Xbox business, MAU and number of Game Pass subs. And that's number they are providing.

It's funny. Shareholders don't care about Xbox profitability but somehow GAF users care about it. Geez, I wonder why.

Nice little excuse you made for MS on why they are not disclosing those numbers. Except, your arguments fails when they stopped disclosing number even before the introduction of Gamepass ,and even before they ported their 1st party games to PC.

As mentioned, MS started to hide numbers as soon as Sony dominated them.

Now take the L.
 
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Godot25

Banned
Nice little excuse you made for MS on why they are not disclosing those numbers. Except, your arguments fails when they stopped disclosing number even before the introduction of Gamepass ,and even before they ported their 1st party games to PC.

As mentioned, MS started to hide numbers are soon as Sony dominated them.

Now take the L.
That's your point? :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy:
Okay then.

Didn't they stopped disclosing number of consoles sold numbers after Nadella became CEO and started transforming company to service based?
But we know, that you know better :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

pratyush

Member
I don't mind the call for more transparency (actually wanted to see the Gamepass numbers and MAU) but I don't like the fact that people insinuate that this is a Microsoft only thing. Company's do this all the time and Sony has seemingly done it with ps now numbers, they do it in other parts of their businesses that just aren't their priorities.

But that's not the point is it? Units sold is probably the easiest thing to disclose. That's what I wanted to know. Almost every company out there disclose that. Hell even Sony dwindling mobile division disclose their numbers. Not sure what is stopping Microsoft

Plus they are at full liberty at not disclosing whether Gamepass as a division is making money or not but the problem is most here see revenue as a whole and come to conclusions that Gamepass is doing well revenue wise. I don't expect that it is making money for MS because it's way too early but it would certainly be interesting if they are transparent.
 
Not sure what got into you with that tone. Microsoft isn't giving number because they are not impressive. Sure they don't owe me anything but I don't owe them anything so I will say what I think. If you don't like what I say, maybe try not responding?

As for your I am expert comment, giving how many units sold is done by every company out there who has nothing to hide. It's not as if people are asking for some secret plan.

I am only responding to your post because your argument makes little sense from a practical (real life) standpoint. Companies don’t disclose certain numbers not because they are ugly, as ultimately you can’t hide behind profit/losses and cash flows no matter what unit sales you disclose.

I suspect Microsoft will never disclose unit sales again as they are trying to migrate gaming towards a subscription-based model where unit sales is less relevant.

Apple has stopped disclosing unit sales a while ago exactly for the same reason. Has the company performed worse since? The long and short answer is... no. I’m only giving you the perspective from someone who actually earns a living analysing companies’ financial performance as opposed to using those data points to fuel console warring ad infinitum.
 
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azertydu91

Hard to Kill
That's great and their surfaces are awesome I bought one for my mom and she hasn't touched her PC since.It is well deserved.
 
Why is the stock price going down? Spring sale, time to buy? 🤔
There could be several reasons, with the two most likely being...
1. People selling portions in order to drive the price down. If they can spook enough others to shed some as well, they can then buy back in cheaper.
2. Some shareholders wanting to cash out, or move money often wait for quarterly reports to do so, especially if they think the company will beat analysts forecasts.
 

Fredrik

Member
There could be several reasons, with the two most likely being...
1. People selling portions in order to drive the price down. If they can spook enough others to shed some as well, they can then buy back in cheaper.
2. Some shareholders wanting to cash out, or move money often wait for quarterly reports to do so, especially if they think the company will beat analysts forecasts.
Cool, sounds like it’s time to jump in. And I’m thinking if they can do well launching a console without 1st party games for half a year they should be fine second half of the year too. No trolling, just slightly annoyed at the software situation.
 
Not really.

34% increase year over year when last year was totally dead for the company (video game wise) seems pretty poor to me.

Funny I was just thinking of selling my MSFT stock earlier today thinking I don't see them going much higher, and now they are down after hours. Whoops.

Hopefully their E3 showcase is good.

So, you're going to sell your shares for the company as a whole, because for whatever reason you aren't satisfied with the increases in the gaming side, when the gaming side is nowhere near the breadwinner for the company and they're steady with massive net profits the past several years as well as nearing $2 trillion in market valuation?

'Ya know what, why don't you sell those shares to me so they can be put the use by someone who'll actually know when's a good time to sell ;)

EDIT: Or maybe you're doing it for one of the reasons S Shelookdlvl18 is suggesting? Dunno, hard to tell who is being genuine, sarcastic, or stating things with well intent or malicious intent in these sort of threads now.

Care to explain why?

Take your fanboy goggles off, its 34% YoY, think what Sony was releasing in the same quarter last year and how bad Xbox sales were during that period for both hardware and software.

Bad for whom and compared to what? It's funny you're calling me a fanboy when post history shows you are infinitely more guilty of one-sided narratives while trying to present a neutral, clean image. But I can read right through you.

Anyway, the issue with you guys is that you're always measuring one company's metrics against another's while being completely oblivious to the fact these companies have different weighs in different areas even if the industries are similar. It's like with game sales: Game A may need 6 million copies just to break even, while for Game B 6 million performs significantly above expectations.

It's almost as if different companies expend different rates of R&D, production costs, offsets etc. in products that give them different floors to clear and higher ceilings they can reach, whod'a'thunk'it?

Bear in mind how GP subscription numbers have ballooned over the last year and ask yourself why the revenue being generated by subscriptions, software and services have only risen by a third year over year despite offering multiple SKU's of new gen hardware, the launch of XCloud, etc.

Maybe because of GamePass costs? That would be a common-sense conclusion. This funnily enough would work against the people who constantly chime that GamePass is not profitable; when others say it's profitable, we mean it's not putting the division in the red, in spite of sunk costs to promote growth. But for some of you, nuance and granularity doesn't exist when it comes to Xbox: it's either "oh, those people are trying to say it's doing gangbusters this or that", or "no see guys, because they aren't breaking market industry records like the other guy, they are going to die!".

Then you wonder why these threads devolve into drivel; we (and be "we" I mean gamers who don't really prefer one option to the other and/or play in multiple ecosystems) not even allowed to say something is profitable without some like yourself hyperbolize what's being said.

Its not particularly impressive for a company that's betting the fucking house on software and services!

Market growth does not predicate itself on simply increasing profits; maybe you should read Mat's comments and see if you can take your own goggles off long enough to parse what he is actually saying, when it comes to GP. Microsoft are doing well more than good with their software and services in their key areas; GP profits being on the softer side is not an endangerment to their stability or GP as a service.

At the end of the day we're still looking at a gaming division seeing gradual growth in some areas and rapid growth in others, steadily increasing gains (to the people saying "let's wait 'till post-COVID", it should be noted those same circumstances apply to Sony and Nintendo as well) in terms of revenue and profit (considering PS4 + PS5 having ~ 2.25x install base advantage over assumed XBO + Series systems ATM, their actual revenues for the FY being only 66% higher than Xbox Division's is somewhat telling and should further show install base numbers alone really don't mean very much to how a system ecosystem as a whole is doing...though the numbers are great for both!), etc.

It's only not impressive to you because you have a tendency to measure successful metrics only by external points of comparison between companies with vastly different internal targets, needs, and operational structures. The true definition of a fanboy, since you want to label me so badly 🤷‍♂️
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
-Its year over year so xbox series S/X werent out hence the huge jump in revenue for hardware
-Again year over year and growth is 50 percent, not bad but not earth shattering either. Better than going down.
-Theres 0 context for what these percentage jumps mean.
That's been the case for about a decade now.

Bear in mind aswell with all the money being spent on GamePass, Microsoft won't want to reveal the impact of that expenditure on the service.
 
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