Microsoft CEO: ‘In the past year, subscribers have played billions of hours of games on the platform’
During Microsoft’s most recent earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella revealed that more than 10 million users — or 40% of the 25 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers — have tried the company’s cloud gaming platform.
By subscribing to Microsofts’ Game Pass Ultimate for $14.99/mo, users gain access to the company’s cloud gaming library, all of which can be streamed from a nearby server. In this way, cloud gaming frees the player from the confines of relying on a computer or console with powerful, expensive graphics and hardware to play a game. For instance, some of Microsoft’s most popular games, like Flight Simulator, are now accessible on lower-spec devices like phones and tablets.
The tech company’s growth in this area is characteristic of the cloud gaming market’s overall boom. Newzoo forecasted that cloud gaming revenue will grow to $6.53 billion in 2024 and will make up about 3% of the $200 billion global gaming market, a percentage that is actually more impressive than its small number conveys as the technology has struggled somewhat getting off the ground.
Many believe that 5G was the missing ingredient. That’s because 5G offers the required low latency and high-speed connectivity, as well as the ability to handle the high data demands expected from gaming platform subscribers.
“Our ambition is to power gamers to play when and how and where they want,” Nadella said on the earnings call, adding that Microsoft is “redefining how games are distributed, played and viewed.”
He also shared that in the past year, subscribers have played “billions of hours” of games on the platform and that Azure gaming year-to-date revenue has increased 66%.
Microsoft’s overall Q3 revenue came in at $49 billion, a rise of 18% year-over-year and the figure was above the consensus of $49.03 billion.
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