Microsoft's Xbox division turns a profit (again!)

by Dustin Burg { Apr 25th 2008 at 10:15AM }

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD) is one happy division, because for a second fiscal quarter they've turned a nice profit and are Microsoft's shiny badge of success.

For the third fiscal quarter, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox 360's EDD turned an operating profit of $89 million seeing an operating income of $614 million which is a major improvement of last year's $746 million operating loss. Analyzing the numbers further, we see that third quarter EDD sales rose 68% to $1.58 billion (up 35% to $6.57 billion for the nine month period) and Microsoft shipped 1.3 million consoles in the third quarter alone. Oh, and the reason for such impressive numbers? High demand for the Xbox 360 which now has cumulative sales of 19 million units. A 74% increase over last year.

Tags: microsoft, xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

pandlcg @ Apr 25th 2008 10:25AM

Shipping 1.3M in a quarter really puts the Wii supply craziness into perspective. Aren't they selling something like 1.8M per month? So not only are they already ahead of the 360 but they're significantly widening the gap. I'm not really a fan of the Wii, but damn that's impressive.

xenocidic @ Apr 25th 2008 10:30AM

meh

Is GTA IV on the Wii?

didn't think so

DjDATZ @ Apr 25th 2008 10:40AM

Xeno's right. Is GTA IV on the Wii? No. Not interested then. lol

Trekster_Gamer @ Apr 25th 2008 10:41AM

yah impressive sales for an unimpressive console and even more unimpressive software

Zoot Suit Jedi @ Apr 25th 2008 12:09PM

Behold the power of great marketing.

Fool the masses into buying a gimmicky sub par console that becomes obsolete beyond the included Wii Sports. One of the most expensive paper weights that I have ever purchased.

Oh, save for when my grandmother visits semiannually. She effin loves it.

Matt @ Apr 26th 2008 12:51AM

Why do people compare the Wii to the 360? Hardcore gaming system vs. casual party/retirement home fun.

dunnypop @ Apr 25th 2008 10:32AM

The wii sells consoles like hotcakes... but the amount of games they sell is dismal.

Tony @ Apr 25th 2008 10:43AM

The Wii has something like 25 million selling games worldwide. Granted more than half of those are first party, but there's clearly been some room for isolated success on the third party side... particularly by games that "get" the whole Wii concept (Guitar Hero, Carnival Games, etc.).

It's not really setting the software charts on fire here all of the time, but worldwide it's certainly doing well enough for most major third parties to want to continue to bother with it.

JJ @ Apr 25th 2008 10:43AM

actually while Wii games may be...glorified shovelware, the Wii actually moves a quite a bit of software maybe not as much as the 360 in america, but overall its actually doing quite well.

Now does it have the games i play the most compared to 360 or PS3...not by a longshot, but Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank as the industry leader right now.

depending on your perspective anyway.

D Boy Flex @ Apr 25th 2008 11:11AM

I have been gaming since the time the NES came out. I upgraded to the SNES, then to the 64. My brother got a gamecube, but nobody yet has bought the Wii. Why? Given the fact that we started with the NES, we are now in our mid 20s and thoroughly enjoy chainsaws and violence and blood and gore and more violence and all the adrenaline that goes along with that. I am a new parent and honestyl, if my daughter wanted to be into gaming, I would buy her the Wii. Why? I don't want my kids exposed to the Mature content of the games I buy for the 360. Sure, there are other non violent games, like Viva pinata and sonic and Legos games, but the Wii does really have a hold on the family friendly games and always has. That is who they are. Sure, they have some adult games out there, but it seems as though they cater to children. I bet somebody is going to say to hell with the M rating and they will let their kids play any game they want cause it is better to expose them now rather than later, yada yada yada. honestly, it is a personal decision and just as they won't be seeing R rated movies until they are 17 or 18 or whatever the age is, they won't be playing M rated games until then either.

point is, from my perspective, I could see why the Wii is blowing ever other console away: it is a safer console for family friendly games, over all, but not exclusively 100%. Anyways, just my two cents.

I still love my xbox. and my second xbox cause my first one crapped out on me. The first one is now on display in my home in a glass case to be viewed as a leader in home entertainement and how NOT to make a next gen console at launch. I wonder what those numbers would be if everybody only bought 1 xbox 360? likely they would be half of what they are. people want good harware for GTA!!!

Trekster_Gamer @ Apr 25th 2008 4:43PM

I could not disagree more. I to am a parent I have 4 children, 3 girls and 1 son. Granted my son is much more of a gamer on consoles than my girls, but other than Mario which he enjoyed in the countless itterations of the past (when he was younger) there is not been a request for the Wii. We all enjoy the 360, the girls like viva pinata, and rayman and the many many xbox live arcade games that are family friendly as does my son but he like me enjoys games like Halo3, C0d4 ect ect. Now if I was an uninformed parent like what is the majority out there I might have just bought a Wii and he could play minimalist offerings on the Wii, but when I can show him the differences in the graphical prowess of the 360 I let him be the judge and the 360 wins every time. He came home one day and had heard about Super Mario Galaxy and thought this game looks as good as any 360 game, but when I showed hime many titles Halo3, Cod4, or any other of a 100 titles that simply blow away anything the Wii has to offer we both decided that Sup Mar Gal might be fun but it sure looks dated as do ALL Wii games compared.

D Boy Flex @ Apr 25th 2008 5:51PM

@ TG
I was not sayin the Wii rivals the 360 in terms of hardware capabilities. Personally, I remove the temptation and provide a suitable alternative. Personal decision, each parent/family can decide for themselves how they handle it. In my quite large extended family, I am on the older end and none of the other cousins etc have a 360, rather they ALL have the Wii. Why? Just as I already said: Nintendo tends to be more family friendly. I talked to the aunts and uncles and that is what they told me. Are they wrong or uneducated? No, they are only defending what I am saying: the majority of the non gamerfan public holds Nintendo as more family oriented gaming system maker. In a gamer family, that may obviously be slightly different.

Big Bird @ Apr 25th 2008 11:12AM

My wii is collecting dust like so many others, my gfs 10 year old has even lost interest in it. Graphics are very lackluster as they usually are. With the lack of achievements I just don't find it as fun to be honest. I know they mean nothing, but still…. No GTA!! Lol Of course they don’t know playable games allowed even brawl was a disappointment to me.