Microsoft reported the results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2014 year today, and its consumer-device business is bringing in some cash — and a good chunk of this comes from Xbox 360 sales even as we approach the launch of the Xbox One.
The corporation revealed that it sold another 1.2 million Xbox 360 units from July to September. It’s device division also started turning around the Surface tablets, which generated $400 million in revenue.
This means that the Xbox 360 is approaching 80 million in lifetime sales.
As expected, that 1.2 million figure is down from 1.7 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2013. It’s also less than half of Xbox 360’s best first quarter, when it sold 2.8 million Xbox 360s in the fiscal 2011 between July and September.
Xbox 360s sales are slowing as it has fewer gamers to sell to. The market is saturated for current-gen consoles, since most potential customers already own the Microsoft hardware or a PlayStation 3. Microsoft also plans to launch the Xbox One on Nov. 22, which will replace the Xbox 360 as the company’s premiere gaming device.
Despite the coming Xbox One and competition from Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 4, analysts still expect the Xbox 360 to outsell all other home consoles this holiday season.
“Considering all the moves that Microsoft is making to back up the Xbox 360, I have no doubt in my mind that in terms of unit sales, it will be the top-selling console this season, killing the Nintendo Wii and Wii U on its path,” analyst Peter Warman, the chief executive of Newzoo, told GamesBeat earlier this month. “The current focus in the press on presale figures of next-generation consoles provides a very limited picture of the business. We should all make sure that investors, and other decision makers outside our industry see the bigger picture.”