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Xbox Explains Why It Doesn't Reveal Console Sales Anymore

havoc00

Member
In 2015, Microsoft stopped announcing Xbox sales numbers, and now the company has shed more light on that decision. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said at the Wells Fargo 2023 TMT Summit this week that Microsoft doesn't publicly discloses these figures because, as Microsoft sees it, a unit-sales number alone doesn't provide the clearest picture of how the Xbox brand is performing overall.

For what it's worth, both Sony and Nintendo announce new hardware sales numbers every quarter. Xbox is understood to be in last place when it comes to console sales compared to PlayStation and Switch, and that might be another reason for Microsoft's lack of console sales disclosure.

Stuart said at the summit, "At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.' But it was really the first point of us saying, no, no, it's about content and services."

Stuart said he measures the success of Xbox by the number of customers it has and how much money Xbox makes as a brand, and Xbox is not only a console brand these days.

Before this, Phil Spencer said console sales numbers are "not really a reflection of how healthy your ecosystem is."

Stuart said his job is to help Xbox reach more people and to get Xbox users to spend more money. One way Microsoft is doing that is by giving players a diversity of purchasing options, including buying games outright, subscribing to Game Pass, or watching ads for mobile titles.

The executive said regions like Africa, India, and Southeast Asia are not "console-first" markets, so Microsoft is trying to push streaming and mobile games in those places. The mobile game business is, after all, the largest and most commercially successful part of the gaming business overall.

Stuart estimated that the market for consoles are in the area of a "couple hundred million," while the PC market is around 400 million. For mobile, though, the potential audience is in the billions, he said.

This is part of the reason why Microsoft wanted to buy Activision Blizzard, so it could get a hold of the company's mobile game franchises like Candy Crush, Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Warcraft Rumble, among others. Stuart stressed that the mobile market is a tough business to break into, and now that it owns Activision Blizzard, it is immediately a top player in the market.

Looking further out, Stuart teased that Microsoft wants to leverage Activision Blizzard's experience in mobile to craft mobile experiences based on Microsoft's own IP. However, he didn't announce Halo Mobile or anything like that; it's still early days for Microsoft mobile games.

 

graywolf323

Member
Uh Huh Sure GIF
 

Gojiira

Member
You make a console…Yes its sales figures are important Fill…Hence why Game Pass isnt growing or profitable and Xbox is stuck in third for the third(lol) generation in a row…
The metrics they use are just cherry picked to obfuscate how Xbox is clearly underperforming and so they can manipulate the narrative…Fuck off Xbox..
 

Nonehxc

Member
In 2015, Microsoft stopped announcing Xbox sales numbers, and now the company has shed more light on that decision. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said at the Wells Fargo 2023 TMT Summit this week that Microsoft doesn't publicly discloses these figures because, as Microsoft sees it, a unit-sales number alone doesn't provide the clearest picture of how the Xbox brand is performing overall.

For what it's worth, both Sony and Nintendo announce new hardware sales numbers every quarter. Xbox is understood to be in last place when it comes to console sales compared to PlayStation and Switch, and that might be another reason for Microsoft's lack of console sales disclosure.

Stuart said at the summit, "At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.' But it was really the first point of us saying, no, no, it's about content and services."

Stuart said he measures the success of Xbox by the number of customers it has and how much money Xbox makes as a brand, and Xbox is not only a console brand these days.

Before this, Phil Spencer said console sales numbers are "not really a reflection of how healthy your ecosystem is."

Stuart said his job is to help Xbox reach more people and to get Xbox users to spend more money. One way Microsoft is doing that is by giving players a diversity of purchasing options, including buying games outright, subscribing to Game Pass, or watching ads for mobile titles.

The executive said regions like Africa, India, and Southeast Asia are not "console-first" markets, so Microsoft is trying to push streaming and mobile games in those places. The mobile game business is, after all, the largest and most commercially successful part of the gaming business overall.

Stuart estimated that the market for consoles are in the area of a "couple hundred million," while the PC market is around 400 million. For mobile, though, the potential audience is in the billions, he said.

This is part of the reason why Microsoft wanted to buy Activision Blizzard, so it could get a hold of the company's mobile game franchises like Candy Crush, Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Warcraft Rumble, among others. Stuart stressed that the mobile market is a tough business to break into, and now that it owns Activision Blizzard, it is immediately a top player in the market.

Looking further out, Stuart teased that Microsoft wants to leverage Activision Blizzard's experience in mobile to craft mobile experiences based on Microsoft's own IP. However, he didn't announce Halo Mobile or anything like that; it's still early days for Microsoft mobile games.

Yes, put Call of Duty on all those bored African cellphones...just what the average african needs these days.

I'm sure the Engagements TM is gonna shoot through the roof. 😬
 
Sure sounds like they want out of the console market. Methinks they're taking for granted how much dedicated hardware can do to drive people to your services. For example, having a Steamdeck has made me all but abandon PC games on any other storefront that's not Steam. It seems like they see the xbox brand as being strong enough to survive without the actual xbox. I don't see it happening, but what do I know?
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
You make a console…Yes its sales figures are important Fill…Hence why Game Pass isnt growing or profitable and Xbox is stuck in third for the third(lol) generation in a row…
The metrics they use are just cherry picked to obfuscate how Xbox is clearly underperforming and so they can manipulate the narrative…Fuck off Xbox..

They'll stop advertising MAUs as well and at some point, we'll only hear about revenue, but even then that's a slippery slope too. After a year or two, it'll be clear as day if revenue isn't increasing.
 
MS with Starfield, Redfall, and Forza still managed to disappoint the hell out of me in 2023. Why is Phil Spencer still in charge over there? What the hell is going on with Halo btw? Not even going to try to fix that franchise? How about a plan to add some much needed content to Infinite's campaign, which was one of the lamest open world games imaginable. Not even trying to reinvigorate Halo's multiplayer? Just gonna let the greatest Xbox franchise die?
 

reinking

Gold Member
Stuart said at the summit, "At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.' But it was really the first point of us saying, no, no, we are getting slaughtered in sales and we have to pivot the message to it's about content and services."

FIFY
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
In 2015, Microsoft stopped announcing Xbox sales numbers, and now the company has shed more light on that decision. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said at the Wells Fargo 2023 TMT Summit this week that Microsoft doesn't publicly discloses these figures because, as Microsoft sees it, a unit-sales number alone doesn't provide the clearest picture of how the Xbox brand is performing overall.

For what it's worth, both Sony and Nintendo announce new hardware sales numbers every quarter. Xbox is understood to be in last place when it comes to console sales compared to PlayStation and Switch, and that might be another reason for Microsoft's lack of console sales disclosure.

Stuart said at the summit, "At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.' But it was really the first point of us saying, no, no, it's about content and services."

Stuart said he measures the success of Xbox by the number of customers it has and how much money Xbox makes as a brand, and Xbox is not only a console brand these days.

Before this, Phil Spencer said console sales numbers are "not really a reflection of how healthy your ecosystem is."

Stuart said his job is to help Xbox reach more people and to get Xbox users to spend more money. One way Microsoft is doing that is by giving players a diversity of purchasing options, including buying games outright, subscribing to Game Pass, or watching ads for mobile titles.

The executive said regions like Africa, India, and Southeast Asia are not "console-first" markets, so Microsoft is trying to push streaming and mobile games in those places. The mobile game business is, after all, the largest and most commercially successful part of the gaming business overall.

Stuart estimated that the market for consoles are in the area of a "couple hundred million," while the PC market is around 400 million. For mobile, though, the potential audience is in the billions, he said.

This is part of the reason why Microsoft wanted to buy Activision Blizzard, so it could get a hold of the company's mobile game franchises like Candy Crush, Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Warcraft Rumble, among others. Stuart stressed that the mobile market is a tough business to break into, and now that it owns Activision Blizzard, it is immediately a top player in the market.

Looking further out, Stuart teased that Microsoft wants to leverage Activision Blizzard's experience in mobile to craft mobile experiences based on Microsoft's own IP. However, he didn't announce Halo Mobile or anything like that; it's still early days for Microsoft mobile games.

I mean...it makes it easy to see why people predict Xbox to go 3rd party. If you consider actual 3rd party entities, these are the metrics they would be looking at too. It feels like they are priming the public for their eventual transition to a software and services company in the gaming space.

Like I said in the other thread about this...it's likely that Xbox will be pissing off a lot of Xbox fans before the decade is done.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
I mean...it makes it easy to see why people predict Xbox to go 3rd party. If you consider actual 3rd party entities, these are the metrics they would be looking at too. It feels like they are priming the public for their eventual transition to a software and services company in the gaming space.

Like I said in the other thread about this...it's likely that Xbox will be pissing off a lot of Xbox fans before the decade is done.

Microsoft understands something a lot of Xbox fans don't, which is that the Xbox Series is underperforming the Xbox One, which underperformed the Xbox 360. If these trends continue with the next-generation Xbox, it's beyond a failure.

I think the Xbox Series ends up with 30-45 million units sold depending on how aggressive they get with discounting and not including any streaming Xbox Series devices.

If that is the case, the next generation Xbox can probably only count on selling 15-35 million units... That's entirely untenable.

That future is unavoidable if they continue a hardware path, so the easiest path to pursue for them is a non-hardware path. The only question out there is when they pull the trigger on that.

Maybe they get GTA6 exclusive rights, maybe they give things another year or two, but even with GTA6, there is nothing releasing probably until next holiday season that is going to move the needle in any perceivable way.

The best way for Microsoft to generate revenue right now would be to put a bunch of key titles on PlayStation and try and push those games forward. I just don't know how they're going to keep GamePass alive without the Xbox brand. If they truly went fully 3rd party, XBS sales would simply flatline. We're talking 25 million lifetime units if they announce 3rd party support tomorrow. You have to discontinue the production of hardware immediately.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Can Microsoft make more money by

a) selling their games on PlayStation and cutting sony 30%
b) having publishers sell their games on xbox and receiving 30% from them, minus the loss of hardware sales and the marketing expenditure of advertising the xbox platform

What is the growth and delta of both ventures and what impact would this have on GamePass subscribers?
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Oh yes, the other consoles can release the numbers allowing for a snapshot of success. But at Xbox things are so complicated that you would need to be some sort of genius to figure out how successful the console is.
Exactly.

And as if PlayStation does not have a subscription service (Game Pass / PS Plus), doesn't publish games on rival consoles (Minecraft / MLB & Destiny 2), or doesn't publish games on PC (Starfield / God of War etc.)
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
MS not revealing unit sales anymore more due to sales have dropped since 360 days. Similar to Sony not disclosing PS+ sub plans anymore, which was conveniently announced publicly around the same time they increased sub plans 33%.

As for transparency as a whole for any company. Some do, some dont.

Apple doesnt disclose unit sales of their product lines. And they dont state profits by product line either. All they do is state gross sales per product line, while profits and margin are lumped together into giant vague buckets where nobody except Apple employees know how profitable Phones, Macs and Watches are. And unit sales and shipments you hear are from market research companies estimating what they think is Apple's real shipment numbers.

You'd think Apple being the biggest company in the world raking in the money would tell the world how many units they sell and how profitable each Phone, Mac and Watch are. They dont.
 
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