Even on falling revenue

Feb 1, 2010 09:26 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has had a very good second fiscal quarter, for the period that ended on December 31, 2009, seeing profits go up to 6.7 billion dollars from 4.2, while overall revenue went from 16.7 to 19 billion dollars. And one of the main contributors to this increase, behind the success of the new Windows 7 operating system, is the gaming division of the company.

The Entertainment and Devices Division, which takes care not only of the Xbox 360 home gaming console and videogames associated with it but also of the Zune multimedia players and the Games for Windows service, has posted triple profits when compared with those registered in the same period of 2008 even while sales went down, dragging revenue with them.

Microsoft is saying that “decreased revenue from Xbox 360 video games was due primarily to the release of two significant games in the second quarter of the prior year.”

The software giant is probably talking about the fact that during 2008, it launched blockbusters like Gears of War 2 and Fable II, which were huge sellers and had no equal in 2009. Still, sales of the Xbox 360 should have been buoyed by the launch of Halo 3: ODST and Modern Warfare 2. Overall, quarterly console sales went down from 6 million to 5.2, even as the Pro version of the device was eliminated and the price of the Elite version was cut to match that of the PlayStation 3.

Profits rose despite this reduction in sales because the Entertainment and Devices Division managed to reduce costs associated with Research & Development and with marketing. 2010 is also set to be a big year for the division, as it is preparing to release Project Natal, the motion tracking system that will read the movements of the player without the need for a peripheral to be held in the hand.