Starfield launch set record for new Xbox Game Pass subscriptions in a single day
Microsoft’s financial report for the first quarter of FY 2024 is out, revealing that the company made $3.919 billion USD in revenue from its gaming ventures. That’s a plus of 9% from the same period last year, making it a new record for Q1. This is all the more impressive when contrasted with the fact that in the same time frame hardware sales have gone down by 7%.
While less Xbox consoles were shipped, revenue from Xbox content and services went up by 13% compared to last year’s first quarter. During the corresponding earnings call, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella stated this past quarter had set a record for hours played per Game Pass subscriber – which seems like a clear effect of the launch of Starfield on the service.
It looks like putting Starfield on Game Pass was a successful move for Microsoft.
Microsoft / Bethesda
Indeed, Starfield’s release day set a new record for most new Game Pass subscriptions in a single day. While Nadella did not share sales numbers for Starfield, he said that over eleven million users had played the game with nearly 50% of hours having been played on PC.
Game Pass growth was better than Microsoft expected over this period, CFO Amy Hood said. Once again, the company did not share any numbers in this regard. Hood stated that Microsoft expects its gaming revenue to rise by almost 50% thanks to the closed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which will flood the company’s coffers with money from titles like Call of Duty and Candy Crush starting with the ongoing quarter.
Microsoft will announce further plans for its gaming division during today’s Xbox Partner Preview showcase, which will focus on third-party games coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S in the next few months. Plans regarding Activision Blizzard games will be communicated at some other point as Xbox chief Phil Spencer has already reiterated that Xbox Game Pass integration will take a while for the newly acquired titles.
