14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft, one of the most important technology-oriented companies in the world, has announced that its video game business has contributed significantly to one of its best ever quarters, when it comes to financial results, with revenue going up to about 20 billion dollars just as profits went down a bit to somewhere around 8 billion.
The Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, which mostly deals with the Xbox 360 centered gaming business but is also in charge of the Zune player, has seen revenue going up by 55 percent to reach 3.6 billion dollars during the quarter that has ended on December 31, 2010.
Profits came in at 679 million dollars for a division which six months ago was still seeing a loss.
Only the Business division from Microsoft has performed better than the gaming based one, with the Windows division seeing a 30 percent revenue drop.
Microsoft says that the good results of the Entertainment and Devices Division are linked to very good sales of the Xbox 360 gaming console, which has managed to move some 6.3 million units during the quarter, and to a 30 percent increase in the number of players who are subscribing to the Xbox Live service.
During the final months of last year, the Xbox 360 has been the only console to sell better than it did during the same period of last year, constantly edging out its main rival, the PlayStation 3 from Sony.
The Kinect motion tracking system has also exceeded expectations since its early November 2010 date, managing to sell 8 million units in around two months, including the all important Christmas shopping period.
Microsoft has already said that during 2011 it plans to deliver more core gaming titles for the Kinect add on while also expanding the entertainment appeal of the Xbox 360 with television shows and maybe dedicated channels.