Microsoft CEO hails Black Ops 6 as “biggest Call of Duty release ever”

Results for Q1 of FY 2025 are out

Activision

Microsoft released its financial results for Q1 of FY 2025, posting a 61% revenue growth in the video game content and services sector – 53% of which is attributed to Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard got its own slide in Microsoft’s earnings presentation, highlighting the interest in the matter from general shareholders due to its high acquisition cost. In the presentation, the revenue generated by Activision Blizzard across Q1 of FY 2025 is stated as $1.69 billion USD.

Revenue from Xbox hardware sales once again declined by 29% with an estimated 1.3 million units being shipped over quarter, resulting in an overall revenue increase of the gaming division of 43%.

CEO Satya Nadella told shareholders that “Game Pass also set a new Q1 record for total revenue and average revenue per subscriber” with “players than ever” engaging with Xbox games and devices.

“As we look ahead, our IP across our studios has never been stronger,” he added. “Last week’s launch of Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty release ever, setting a record for day one players, as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day. And unit sales on PlayStation and Steam were also up over 60% year-over-year.”

Nadella proclaimed that this “speaks to our strategy of meeting gamers where they are by enabling them to play more games across the screens they spend their time on.”

Nadella and Xbox chief Phil Spencer have heavily pushed for Xbox games to be ported to as many platforms as possible this year, which had a positive impact on gaming revenue, but is unpopular among the hardcore Xbox fan base, which feels that owning an Xbox console has become pointless by this strategy.

CFO Amy Hood called the results “ahead of expectations” and “driven by stronger-than expected performance in both first- and third-party content as well as consoles.”

Hood warned, however, that gaming revenue is expected to decline again in the next quarter “due to hardware” with content and services growth remaining “relatively flat.” She also highlighted the difference between last year’s Call of Duty launch and that of Black Ops 6 – the latter will create more revenue over time thanks to Game Pass, while the previous iteration mostly provided a burst of revenue in its quarter of release.