Xbox has recently experienced financial difficulties, as console sales have not been as good as the company had hoped. As a result, they are starting to push their software and subscription services more. Despite this, they made some changes to the Xbox Game Pass subscription fee, which caused a lot of anger from the gaming community due to the price increase. Not only are the prices adjusted by country, but the prices of Game Pass Ultimate, Core, and PC Game Pass are all being increased, with the cost of Game Pass Ultimate increasing from $16 to $19.99 for a monthly subscription. Even though prices are rising, their finances are still not good. It has been confirmed in Microsoft’s FY25 Q1 (July-September) report that Activision has helped them a lot.

Since the Activision acquisition, Xbox gaming revenue has grown by 43%, with all gaming revenue coming exclusively from Activision. Additionally, Xbox content and services revenue grew 61%, with a net impact of 53 points coming from the Activision acquisition. While not specifically mentioned in the report, it is assumed that the growth comes from Game Pass. This is to be expected, as several Activision games are appearing on the subscription service for the first time. This is the first time people using a subscription service have been able to play Call of Duty games via Game Pass, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was added to the service as a day one release. Additionally, users will have access to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone.

The report also states that Xbox hardware revenue has declined by 29% year over year, as expected. Microsoft has not made any effort to release a new console compared to its competitors who openly stated that they were working on a new console, even Sony released the PlayStation 5 Pro. Whether or not Xbox plans to make another console seems unclear at the moment, but it has been hinted in the past that its next console will “make a huge technological leap,” as Sarah Bond reports. There have also been leaks that they are considering making a handheld console, but again, nothing has been confirmed by the company.

Overall, Xbox’s finances seem to be a bit balanced, but it’s clear that without Activision they would be in trouble, as Activision brought their finances up significantly with big releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.