Microsoft has released its financial reports for Q2 2024, revealing the full impact of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. As detailed, gaming revenue has grown significantly since this acquisition, advancing 49% year-on-year. Xbox content and services revenue is also up by 61% year-on-year.
While Xbox hardware revenue has stagnated at 3% year-on-year growth, the outlook remains positive for the company. This growth may have been driven by significant monetary investment, but it does appear Microsoft remains highly profitable regardless – as the company reported an overall 18% rise in revenue year-on-year, to USD $62 billion in Q2.
Per a recent market valuation, Microsoft is now worth USD $3 trillion, making it the world’s second most valuable company behind Apple.
A significant reason for this valuation is the company’s gaming division, which The Verge outlines is the third-largest business segment for Microsoft in Q2 2024. While this is likely to change year-on-year as reports account for the sharp boost provided by Activision Blizzard, it’s still an impressive achievement.
Read: Microsoft lays off 1,900 workers at Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax
Despite these results, Microsoft recently initiated layoffs impacting 1,900 jobs in its gaming division, with employees across Activision Blizzard, Xbox, and ZeniMax made redundant. While Microsoft has claimed these cuts were in an effort to align on strategy and cultivate a “sustainable cost structure” to support the business, its ongoing growth suggests a lack of necessity.
As The Verge points out, Microsoft including Activision Blizzard revenue in its Q2 2024 report does muddy the water somewhat, as it’s difficult to see where growth occurred in the wider gaming division – but this will likely become clearer in future financial reports.
For now, it does appear Microsoft maintains healthy, steady growth. We’ll likely see the impact of the decision to lay off a significant number of staff in the company’s next quarterly financial reports.
