Microsoft won’t reveal Xbox Live Monthly Active Users going forward

Ever since the Xbox One failed to take off in comparison to the PlayStation 4, Microsoft has stopped reporting sales figures for its hardware. Now, it seems like the company will only disclose growth going forward. However, this may be due to the fact that it’s focusing on Xbox Game Pass. The fact that Xbox Game Pass exists, and it allows many gamers to play new releases with their $10-a-month subscription, means that software sales will definitely take a hit. Hopefully, they’ll be offset by the revenue earned from the subscription service.

How much is Microsoft committed to services?

It will longer include Gaming Revenue or XBL Monthly Users in its earnings reports. (Though will keep Gaming Revenue in SEC filings.)

Instead, it’s reporting “Xbox Content & Services Revenue Growth.”

Includes subscriptions & cloud. pic.twitter.com/Vi8qokX6cC

— Dom (@DomsPlaying) September 18, 2019

Going forward, the following major changes will take place according to a Microsoft presentation. This was first spotted by Twitter user DomsPlaying.

• Year-over-year percentage revenue growth for Xbox services will be revealed.
• This figure will include Xbox Game Pass and other sources of gaming revenue.
• Xbox Live Monthly Active Users won’t be reported going forward.
• Gaming revenue will continue to be disclosed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

It’s a shame that Microsoft isn’t going to reveal more information. Hopefully, this is going to change as the next generation of consoles starts in 2020. I personally think Xbox Live Monthly Active Users was a good metric because we knew how many more people were playing games on Microsoft’s services every month.

Ideally, Microsoft should reveal the number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers. This will be the real test going forward because a consistently-growing count means that the service is succeeding. Now, it’ll be even harder to judge how the division is doing on an individual basis.

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