Microsoft held its quarterly earnings call this week, revealing the latest batch of stats on how Xbox is doing. As expected, Xbox console sales are indeed down, but the company is seeing continued success in gaming subscriptions, with revenue nearing $1 billion for the quarter.

Microsoft did not announce a new Xbox Game Pass subscriber milestone, but the company did note that Game Pass has grown by single-digit percentages over the last quarter. Xbox's content and services segment generated $3.1 billion during the Q3 period, which helped offset the decline in console sales.

Given that Microsoft has not had a big-budget ‘AAA' first-party exclusive in many months, the drop in console sales isn't too surprising. Game Pass in the meantime seems to be keeping things afloat nicely, in addition to general software sales on Xbox.

Console sales for Microsoft could pick up heavily in the second half of the year, as Bethesda will be releasing its next major RPG, Starfield, exclusively for PC and Xbox Series X/S consoles. If the game turns out to be a critical hit, then it could end up being a system seller, arguably the first since Halo Infinite back in 2021.

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KitGuru Says: Xbox Game Pass is growing but a lack of major first-party releases is no doubt hurting Xbox console sales. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is also currently in jeopardy, as the UK's CMA announced its decision to block the deal earlier today.

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