Microsoft’s latest performance metrics have revealed that the company has successfully expanded its Xbox ecosystem onto multiple platforms and devices. In the most recent Q2 FY2023 earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella shared that the number of monthly active users (MAUs) across the Xbox platform had surpassed 120 million, beating out the PlayStation platform’s 102 million MAUs in Q2 2022.
However, it is important to note that this does not mean that 120 million people are subscribed to Xbox LIVE or that Game Pass has 120 million subscribers. Xbox LIVE is available on non-Microsoft platforms, such as Xbox games on Steam, and some games, like Fortnite, can be streamed via Xbox cloud gaming for free. The 120 million MAUs include users on all devices, such as consoles, Windows PCs, mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.
It has been three years since Microsoft last revealed this particular data. In Q2 FY2020 (the Holiday 2019 period), Xbox had 100 million MAUs, meaning that the platform has grown by 20 million, or 20%, in the last three years.
There is still one big mystery: What happened in June 2019 to spike Xbox LIVE MAUs by 25 million in just a three-month period? Xbox MAUs went from 65 million in June 2019 to 90 million in September 2019.
Microsoft has achieved its goal of expanding Xbox’s reach to every digital platform, but its work is far from over. The company still needs to find a way to monetize these users to benefit its games business. Expansion is only the beginning. The main goal is to turn consumers into buyers and players while retaining them as subscribers simultaneously.
