Recently, Microsoft came to the surprising decision to release four of its console exclusives on rival platforms which were later revealed to be Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded and Pentiment and gamers will no doubt hope to see more Xbox first-party titles on PlayStation and perhaps, Nintendo Switch.
Why has Microsoft decided to release some of its first-party titles on rival platforms? I'm not complaining because the more people that get to play games such as Hi-Fi Rush, the better in my opinion, but it's an interesting decision nonetheless.
That being said, Microsoft's gamble does look like it's beginning to pay off somewhat with a number of its first-party titles becoming best-sellers on the PlayStation Store. Yet, it seems that we may have that answer as to why Microsoft made such a huge business decision because as reported by Kotaku, its Q3 earnings report reveals that sales for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are down.
It's common knowledge that most video game console manufacturers make a large chunk of profits via video game sales, especially those of the first-party variety. However, the recent Q3 report says that revenue for the green brand is down 30% year-over-year.
The report states that the decline in sales is due to the "lower volume of consoles sold" during the early stages of 2024 which is an unfortunate repeat of last year for Microsoft. That being said, it's not all doom and gloom for Xbox because there are some promising games on the way which may help to boost sales.
For example, Xbox gamers can all look forward to the likes of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Fable, Awowed, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and many more. So it will be interesting to see Microsoft's financial earnings report a year from now and beyond.
