Microsoft recently released the company’s first quarterly report of FY2016 and the results are not too shabby. Revenue from Xbox Live transactions are up 17% and Microsoft reports both an increased volume of transactions as well as customers spending more on each transaction. Put simply, players are buying more games, DLC and other forms of digital content from Xbox Live. Microsoft’s revenues from video games as a whole is up 66% and the company attribute much of that massive increase to Minecraft. As the saying goes, every silver cloud has a dark lining and in this case it is because revenue from console sales are down. This is not entirely a bad thing though as this is due to the Xbox 360 declining in sales as the console enters its twilight years.
Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations with total revenues of $21.7 billion for the quarter. Revenues from Microsoft’s cloud business were over $8 billion. As of this writing Microsoft’s stock price has jumped nearly 7.5% in after hours trading and the share price is currently over $51.
“We are making strong progress across each of our three ambitions by delivering innovation people love. Customer excitement for new devices, Windows 10, Office 365 and Azure is increasing as we bring together the best Microsoft experiences to empower people to achieve more,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a press statement.
