Microsoft's Xbox division turns Q1 profit, ships 2.2 million consoles

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Oct 24th 2008 9:25AM

Good news, everybody (concerned with the financial prosperity of a gigantic corporation)! Microsoft's fiscal Q1 2009 results, which cover the three-month period ending September 30th, 2008, show that its Entertainment and Devices Division -- the same one responsible for the entertaining device known as the Xbox 360 -- managed to turn a profit once again. According to Gamesindustry.biz, quarterly income rose to $178 million, an approximate 6.6% increase over last year's $167 million.

In less financially fortuitous news, overall sales were down from $1.929 billion to $1.814 billion (no Halo 3 this year, remember?) compared to Q1 2008, and revenue from the Xbox 360 and PC platforms went down by 22%. Though Microsoft still shifted 2.2 million consoles, the EDD was greatly aided by sales of Mac software, mobile device applications and the Zune. Seriously, people, we can't keep making fun of it if you actually go and buy the darn thing.

Source

Tags: BreakingNews, EDD, Financial-Results, Microsoft, Profit, Q109, Xbox, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (93)

Oh nice, another day where someone overseas talks smack about Americans in order to feel special.

The arguments that the 360 is a fps machine are pretty silly at this point. It doesn't matter what sells the most, its what the machine has available. I happen to have a few rpgs for my 360, while that was normally a genre I would use my PS2 for. The 360's library is pretty darn large and has a lot of game types. So get over the same tired Halo argument and move on. Also, I played the hell out of RFoM...on my PS3.

360 controllers are better suited for FPSs. They make a better fit. But, there are more RPGs on the 360 than the PS3. What say you to that?

And yes, I have a PS3 and I own Resistance. It plays fine, but it would be more natural on the 360. IMO.

I think everyone is a grumpy guss today... me included. Its Friday we should all be happier...

The funny thing is that most Americans don't view people from other countries as ignorant morons, yet people claim that everyone from other countries view Americans as gun-toting yanks. Maybe people should take their sterotypes and shove them somewhere...

In other news, I have a 360 and a PS3 and the last game I've played on my PS3 was MGS4. I'd play it more if it had any good games. Now, I'm playing Fable 2 and one of my favorite games is still Oblivion. I like to mix it up.

Yes, there are more shooters onteh 360.

There are also more wRpgs
There are also more jRpgs
There are also more puzzle games
There are also more racing games

There are just more games on the 360.

Perception is reality. The perception is that the 360 is the console for FPS. It doesn't mean they don't have other genres but the predominant genre is FPS.

MGS 4 & Uncharted are both from the 3rd person perspective as is Gears Of War. Kojima even tried (and failed) to include a FPS perspective just for Americans.

I prefer the Playstation platform for a myriad of reasons and thats my perogative. If the guy doesn't like the 360 because all he sees (from his perception) that the better games are FPS thats his own perogative. It's not like you guys need to call him an idiot or a Sony fanboy to defend your precious 360. It wasn't even a fanboy comment.

The problem he made was making that comment in a thread about Microsoft. Should have known everyone would come after him.

Like I said I prefer the PS3 for a number fo reasons. It has all the features i want and then some, great controller, the best exclusives (IMO!!! fanboys), free network play and the most important (for me!!!) is that the console is actually stable and not failure proned.

I waited in line for 12 hours int he freezing cold to get my 360. All I got in return was a console that had constantly broke down on me. Sure, they fixed it for free but thats not really the point. The only gamnes I even purchase on the 360 are big time exclusives like Ninja Gaiden 2, Gears 2 and Fable 2. Maybe other people that prefer their 360 to their PS3 buy all the multiplatforms for the 360 and think the PS3 is useless based of their preferences.

Everyone is different - let them be. No need to try and attack their character or call them fanboys or whatever for giving an honest opinion.

"Perception is reality."

No, it's not.

Perception is relative.
Reality is a fact.

Just because you perceive the world to be flat, does not mean it really is.

Great news for MS, after loosing billions on the first xbox they deserve it, congrats to them

PS: ZUNE IS AWESOME
I own an 80gb and have not regretted the purchase great sound quality and love playing Hexic while listening the BBC on NPR

Zune + Radio + Podcast + HEXIC = MULTIPLE ORGASMS

So THAT'S why they sell Zunes in Ann Summers... not that I would know off course... I mean... excuse me, there's someone at the door, got to go!...

haha i do exactly the same thing all the time

Any income from Zune is a result of MS using its influence to get retailers to _carry_ the Zune in their stores. MS can then ships lots of them to these retailers and book revenues off it. This should not be confused with people actually BUYING Zunes, as you'll find them gathering dust in many of these stores.

Of course, since you say it, it MUST be true!

I believe you. Anonymous people on the internet who say things about a company with no sources and no clear reasoning behind posting such things just screams factual.

Do you have defintive proof for this theory, such as knowing someone at MS that actually told you this is the case?

try reading the actual financial statements .. the key word is "shipped", not "sold".

ALL figures are shipped figures. They have been sold to retailers, Microsoft got their money. The part you are missing is that retailers wouldn't buy them if they don't sell. So everything you said is irrelevant.

What an idiot!

*Sarcasm Warning*

Oh sure lets keep ordering them and let them pile up in the warehouse so we wont make any money off of them but at least MS will be even richer. Yeah thats the ticket!!1

Mike that is a sadly simplistic view of things. You've got tunnel vision locked on the "shipped" issue, but ignore any common sense beyond that. They are paid for what they ship - its a sale to the retailer. Beyond that, retailers don't buy product just for the sake of storing it. They then sell it and MS doesn't/can't track each and every one of those independant sales for obvious reasons.

Shipped doesn't always mean that is has been sold to the retailer. Don't know where you guys came up with that nuggett. I don't know about this instance with the Zune and what not. It's equally simplistic to simply say that shipped = sold. These big distributors and companies have very exstensive contracts with all kinds of clauses and return policies. Products are often shipped back to the vendor when they don't sale.

johnny- they are usually not sent back to the vendor as that adds substantial costs to the picture for added fuel and transportation costs. then the manufactuer in turn would have to send those out to a clearance company which adds more fuel and transportation costs..

if an item doesn't sell in store it is usually put on clearance in that store. if that doesnt work it is usually then sent to a clearance company... (you see how that avoids spending more money on transporting goods that havent sold)

these retailers get these items for very cheap..usually less than 50% of what we the consumer pays. these big box stores also want to pay the lowest price for these goods and they get the lowest prices ahead of time by purchasing a lot of 1 item... they dont get the best price by not purchasing the items.. they purchase them at lower prices to offer lower prices to the consumer.. example buy LBP at circuit city get $ 15 off.

"Shipped doesn't always mean that is has been sold to the retailer."

Shipped always DOES mean sold. Manufacturers don't ship their product Distribution Center, and hope they get some kind of return from it. Stores (like Best Buy) etc, keep inventory.
When a product sells out at a particular store, or gets low, they order more. That order gets sent to the distribution center. The distribution center then sends that product to the store that is running low, and then compensates for the stores that are not.
When the DC center runs low of the product, they order more from the manufacturer.

The Distribution Center does not place a order to the manufacturer if they have plenty on hand.

Distribution Centers do not buy more items if they have plenty on hand. Just because you have seen a Best Buy or two with a abundance of something, does not mean they are hoarding. It just means they allocated their resources to compensate for stores that sell more.

Thank God for me that the rich keep getting richer! I don't know what I would do if MS didn't grow year over year. Hopefully I can dig up enough scratch to buy some overhyped sequel for $60 soon! Sorry lil un' no diapers for you this month!

@dirty...

I'm not PERSONALLY stereotyping you...I am giving insight into how the majority of the world perceives yanks...gun toting, offish, rude and self important. This doesn't necessarily reflect YOU, but it certainly is the image your country as a whole has abroad. Isn't the push of Obama one of your country's attempts to fix this image?

If anything, this should reflect poorly on the world because stereotyping people you don't know tends to be viewed as a bad thing. As for the Zune, I bought the Zune 30 for $100 a year ago and have been very pleased to see the firmware add a lot of functionality for free. I now have games and a wifi marketplace (in addition to the updated software on my PC).

@anthony33,

The push for Obama in our country isn't a sign to correct anything, it's a sign of the ignorance of Americans.

Personally I could care less what "the rest of the world" thinks, especially Europe. Being the birthplace of Marxism, Communism, Socialism the list goes on and on, I don't think advice from people who long ago traded their balls in should have any baring on anything. We need a real leader, not an apologetic appeasing bitch. We have/had our issues to be sure, but we have helped to save the world twice and currently (even though Bush really fucked up) we are one of few nations who has the intestinal fortitude to at least try and stand up to the current threat the world faces.

While radical muslims run around cutting peoples heads of on video and torturing and killing their own people for little shit, your debating in the U.N. on whether or not to call something genocide. Were doing no better, bitching about gay rights and the economy. We have SERIOUS issues going on and now is not the time for bitches in the White House. The economy will correct itself, given time. The world threat we are facing won't.

Obama is a socialist, a dangerous one at that and sadly, America cares more about what socialist Europe has to say than what this country needs. After 8 years of this Bush shit, we need a real leader, a Truman, an Eisenhower, a Reagan. The last thing we need is Saul Alinsky socialist in the white house.

However, you get what you ask for, and since most of my fellow country men are idiots, we will get the nightmare that is coming. See you in a few weeks comrades.

@sure...

Yeah we really need another fascist war monger who wants to spread "democracy" throughout the middle east. Obama is a step in the right direction and it shows that AMERICA is tires of these fascist Nazi pigs like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, McCain And Palin.

All Neo-Cons have done is DESTROY our country. Then , have the audacity to say that an Obama administration will make the country worse.

Great tactic there - I'm really going to believe the words of the same group of people that have run our country into the ground. What they are saying is "vote for McCain because he has a better chance of doing nothing and Obama will turn America in Europe".

News Flash: Bush & the republicans has done more to socialize America than Obama is even proposing. Your just to stupid to see the faults in your own party. At least Obama wants to spend the money in and on America & Americans instead of rebuilding ans securing we JUST DESTROYED.

Let's spend the money on our citizens, infrastructure, children, education and healthcare system. We need to improve America before we worry about rebuilding the entire Middle East in our image.

@sure...

I should've put quotes around that first paragraph as I was commenting on dirty. The second paragraph is what I wrote.

That said, I'm voting Obama because conservitism in the country is utter garbage. Unfortunatly, there are people like you too busy worrying about whether we become socialist that you can't see that pure capitalism is not the answer. Socialism, a blend of capitalism and communism, can and has worked well for countries that have implimented it properly (free schooling/college, healthcare, not to mention the people who live in Scandanavia are the happiest people on the planet). Unfortunately, we have socialism but without any of the benefits as described above. We just get to take the burden of risk from the failed corporations and put it on the taxpayers. But feel free to keep worrying about how dangerous Obama is all while Wall Street robs you blind.

Johnny, if you are going to rampage against a person's posts, why not read them first. The man said he had problems with the Bush years, and yet you say he said the opposite.

Also, it’s getting real old having people call Republicans nazi's and fascists all the time - in fact, it’s just a debase and nasty comment made by those with nothing but hate and desperation.

Honestly, whether its attacking MS or people with different political views, you are one of the least tolerant and reasonable people on Joystiq.

@Ludwig,

What's there to keep making fun of when it comes to the Zune?

I have had a Zune for a long time, I have one of the 30gb "chocolates", the brown and green ones, and I have to say IMO it's way better than an Ipod.

I'm not going to go thru the list of reasons, as most have been stated by others already, but to the person that said you should compare it to the Ipod classic, why? Just because the touch has those other features doesn't necessarily make it better. As an MP3 music device, I would still pic the Zune over the the touch.

I really wasnt aware of all this zune love. Once again Microsoft has done well to go after the core and move in from there. That J Allard is a tricky bastard.

Now even I want a Zune, my short love affair with Apple left a bad taste in my mouth.

Of course you think its better than an iPod because YOU BOUGHT THE DAMN ZUNE.

The iPhone or iPod Touch is a revolutionary PMP device. The Zune is an iPod clone. Thats it.

Tell Microsoft to call me when they have an original thought or product in their PMP line.

johnny- wow why all the MS hate...

the iphone and ipods are DRM locked and also locked to 1 phone service.
the iphone is a great phone if you have AT&T phone service.

Ipod software has only recently been updated to really be user friendly and up to date (wireless connection not a part of ipod, when it was a part of the zune)

sorry not everyone is an inventor.. some people are better at taking something and making it better.. thats business and how it always was.

ipod is only better in the accesory dept. and the exclusive songs they get.

sure- bush and mccain and palin have not done a good job at much and mccain and palin arent a good choice either.

i feel obama is the lesser of the 2 evils and i voted for bush.

@psn johnnynumber5,

You are a perfect example of a ignorant American.

Part of the reason we are in the situation that we are now as a country is because clowns like you who get their news from the Daily Show constantly support this 2 party system that's really 1 party that plays (r) against (d). Your probably too young and naive to realize that our government is one of the biggest shell games of all time.

Obama is dangerous because hes a radical socialist who wants to fundamentally change the country by ignoring and ultimately abolishing the constitution, something most people haven't even read. Might I suggest that you look up Saul Alinsky and you tell me if that's not what he's trying to do.

You are petty and you are a fool. This whole "neo con" crap is for clowns like you to cheer "RIGHT ON!" when your jerking off to Katy Kurick or Oberman. Save your dribble for someone else. Obamas not fixing shit, all hes gonna do is help to bring us that much further into a Brave New World.

sure you realized bush just endorsed and signed a socialist bill.. the 700 billion bailout..
he signed to give the government a say and control of private banks. that is socialism..

so what are you saying obama is going to do that is so wrong??

As if him getting his news from the Daily Show is any different than you getting it from Mark Levinn. You speak in nothing but hyperbole. The right wingers always claim that the left wingers are going to turn this country into a socalist dictatorship. And guess what? It never happens. So why should we listen to you now?

anthony- or bill o'riley... lol

i actually liked that obama changed his tax plan and said he would only raise the highest tax bracket by about 3%, which is not alot.
and due to the overspending and unbalancing of the budget by the 8 years of the bush administration.. trillions spent in Iraq, and that is worse than it was before. there are more "terrorists" in the middle east now than before the bush admin. he has been a complete failure. ""mission accomplished""lol

sure- btw that 700 billion dollar bailout that bush signed is considered a socialist move and is giving the government control of what was once privately held banks. so go figure.. maybe do some research instead of listening to oriley so much.

and sure why has one of bushes and his fathers close allies, colin powell, endorsed obama.. no its not because of the color of his skin.. its because colin powell told bush sr. not to go into Iraq and he also told bush jr. the same thing.

how many ps3 shipped in the same quarter would be interesting to know??
because when are they going to close the console gap lead?
as time goes on, ms will continue to find ways to keep the 360 cheaper than the ps3.

@johnnynumber5,

I forgot to correct you on a few things, don't worry, I'll be quick.

First and foremost, I'm not a republican. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who isn't a democrat is a republican and vice versa. I'm an independent who is a constituionalist.

Secondly, education, healthcare and infrastructure are all great things to work on. However if we don't have a country, those things won't matter. We have open borders to our north and south where Mexican drug gangs are having shoot outs across the Rio grand with Texas sheriffs.

We have millions of people from all over the world (mainly s. America)and we don't know who the fuck they are. And to top it all off, we have to deal with radical Muslims and a host of other global threats whom Joe Biden himself just said will "test" Obama soon after hes in office.

Ask Nick Berg, Paul Johnson and the others who were beheaded what's more important. This isn't about "making the middle east in our image" this is about stopping them from blowing us the fuck up. ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC don't tell you that so you probably wouldn't know it but we are at war. Bush fucked up big time and luckily our military was able to turn the tide. The last thing we need now is an appeasing socialist whose role models are members of the weather underground, Saul Alinsky and a host of other 60's radicals and Chicago slime ball politicians.

We need a REAL leader. Not the 4 clowns they have up now and it's fools like you who believe in this republican this democrat that, that end up putting clowns like Bush, Pelosi, Boxer and Feinstien in office to begin with.

The only thing that's gonna happen when he gets in office is that taxes will skyrocket and so will unemployment as we continue to be invaded from the north and south our enemies abroad will be testing us at every step (as the U.N. does nothing as usual)and we continue to be invaded from the North and the South becuase republicans want cheap labor and democrts want an ignorant voting block that they can promise more shit too at the LEGAL tax payers expense.

Change is coming as is hope, but the change and hope that are being played to you now is not the shit were going to get, I promise you that.

sure yeah we all want ron paul, however none of us seem to ever vote for him...

maybe if one of his speeches and/or debates actually made sense and could be understood by the general public.. you know the people that actually vote.

sure- you heard that obama changed his tax plan and would raise the highest tax bracket in the country by only 3%.
and that cant happen until 2010 or later anyway because that is when the current tax plans end.
and his tax plans would have to pass the senate and congress to be valid anyway.
the president never just raises taxes anyways.
thats ignorant and stupid to think.

the country cannot continue running on a bush unbalanced trillion dollar deficit budget.

Oh you mean the bailout that Obama and McCain both supported and said was the right thing to do? That bailout? How soon you forget that your messiah supported it as well.

Fucking idiots.

You kids can argue your talking points, i'm done with this as you obviously are yound and naive or just plain deaf, dumb and blind.

sure- learn to spell. and think. and research. and debate.

btw i am 26 and own my own company. i have also completed 2 years of college and i hold a valid California state contractors license with specialist classifications. i provide services throughout southern california, the nations leading service geographical location.

what exactly do you do? watch oriley all day?

so u agree that bush and mccain support socialist moves when they believe they will benefit the country??

Man, how does a thread on Microsoft's profits, have so much politics in it?

maybe because we are 2 weeks away from a historical election in america that most of the world is watching.

why do people around the world get so worked up over the world cup of soccer every 4 years??

and i dont know how that started...

Previous 50 Comments

Microsoft's Xbox division turns Q1 profit, ships 2.2 million consoles

Reader Comments (93)

Posted: Oct 24th 2008 11:20AM Duke said

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