In the fiscal quarter ending June 2024, Microsoft reported over 500 million monthly active gaming users across all platforms and devices. This is up from 200 million reported users at the end of 2023. The user figures are strongly impacted by the closing of Microsoft's acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard.

In 2023, the unit sales of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S video game consoles amounted to nearly *** million units, decreasing considerably from just above the **** million units sold in the previous year. Xbox X/S’s predecessor, the Xbox One, was put to market in 2013 and sold roughly ** million units in total until the end of its lifespan in 2020. Xbox Designed by Microsoft, Xbox is a series of video game consoles including the original Xbox, Xbox 360 and the newest Xbox One. Respectively belonging to the sixth, seventh, and eighth generations of video game consoles, the Xbox consoles established Microsoft’s standing in the video game industry, with Sony and Nintendo as the other two major competitors. The latest Xbox models Series X and S were released in November 2020, two days before the release of PlayStation 5. They became the first Xbox consoles to offer 4K gaming at up to 120 frames per second and introduced a new wireless controller to the lineup. Console Gaming Since the release of the world’s first gaming console in 1972, the Magnovox Odyssey, the console gaming industry has exploded in popularity and become a massive global industry. Modern consoles regularly sell tens of millions of units throughout their lifespan, as players from around the world compete in everything from virtual sports to medieval fantasies. In 2023, Sony’s Playstation 5, Nintendo’s Switch and the Xbox Series X/S were the highest-selling game consoles worldwide, each selling millions of units annually.

First launched in 2002, the Xbox Network is an online multiplayer service associated with Microsoft’s Xbox line of consoles. As of December 2022, Microsoft's online gaming service had approximately 120 million monthly active users, up from just under 40 million at the beginning of 2016. The service was known as Xbox Live before rebranding into Xbox network in March 2023 and to differentiate it from the Xbox Live Gold subscription service offering.

Xbox Live perks Xbox network is available as a free service, but it also has a paid tier called Xbox Live Gold. Many of the key features that gamers look for in the service, such as online gaming and access to exclusive games, are restricted to the Gold service. The Gold service also includes a Games with Gold program, in which gamers are offered access to digital downloads of games every month. Xbox One gamers have access to two games every month, with the cumulative retail value of these games reaching a combined 712 U.S. dollars throughout 2022.

 King of the consoles? The Xbox Series S/X is the current generation of Xbox consoles and competes neck-to-neck with Sony's PlayStation 5 which were both released in November 2020, as well as the Nintendo Switch console which was launched in March 2017. When looking North American sales, the Xbox Series S/X has already surpassed the Nintendo Wii U and the Dreamcast but still is lagging behind the PlayStation 5. Additionally, the majority of Xbox gaming revenue is not derived from hardware sales but through gaming content and service sales.

First launched in June 2017 on the Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's cross-platform gaming subscription service, which allows users to play online multiplayer, access a rotating library of games, and other services, depending on the subscription tier. Xbox Game Pass reported 34 million subscribers in February 2024. The overall reach of the Microsoft Xbox Network was an estimated 120 million monthly active users. A constantly evolving product With the multiplayer subscription service Xbox Live Gold already being a part of the online gaming experience on the Xbox One console, Microsoft introduced a separate on-demand subscription service for gaming content, known as Xbox Game Pass, in the second half of the console’s lifecycle. In April 2019, Microsoft also introduced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which bundles Game Pass with an Xbox Live Gold subscription. This higher-priced tier also includes EA Play, a subscription service for video games published by Electronic Arts. EA Play has been live in several iterations, known as Origin Access on PC and EA Access on consoles. In November 2020, EA Play was integrated into the XBox Game Pass Ultimate and instantly doubled its user reach. Expanding the content library via strategic acquisitions At launch, the Xbox One platform, and subsequently the Xbox Game Pass, have frequently been criticized for the lack of platform-exclusive releases. Compared to the PlayStation or Nintendo Switch, there were fewer major first- or third-party exclusives, and several flagship Microsoft exclusives also underperformed or were delayed or cancelled.To remedy this, Microsoft began to realign its first party studios first into unified Microsoft Studios (2017) and then rebranded this collection of gaming studios into Xbox Game Studios (2019). Since 2019, Microsoft has made several key acquisitions (Double Fine, InXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games) before making a big splash with their 7.5 billion U.S. dollar purchase of holding company ZeniMax Media in March 2021. ZeniMax’s portfolio of gaming studios includes Bethesda Game Studios (maker of Fallout, The Elder Scolls, and the upcoming Starfield), id Software (developer of Doom, Quake, and the Rage series), Arkane Studios, MachineGames, and Tango Gameworks. It was Microsoft’s most high-profile gaming acquisition until the announcement of its intended purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for an eye-watering 69 billion U.S. dollars in January 2022. As of June 2023, the blockbuster deal is still up for regulatory approval due to concerns about industry consolidation and its impact on consumer choice.

As of May 2025, lifetime unit sales of Xbox One consoles in North America reached nearly ** million, while in Europe, lifetime unit sales surpassed **** million. In total, nearly ** million Xbox One units have been sold worldwide as of November 2024. Xbox console history Xbox is a video game brand created by Microsoft, the U.S. technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and a range of other services. The Xbox video game console is the most widely known product under the Xbox umbrella, with the first Xbox console released in North America in November 2001, and worldwide the following year. Since then, Microsoft has released a further four video game consoles – Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Console competitors Of the all-time sales of video game consoles, Microsoft registers just one device, the Xbox 360, in the top ten. Looking more closely toward the top of the list, Sony registers two of its products in the top five, with Nintendo’s DS, Game Boy and Switch devices making up the rest. In terms of lifetime sales, Sony has sold nearly twice as many of its PlayStation * consoles compared to the Xbox One. This trend is expected to continue with the latest generation of PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

In January 2025, first-person shooter (FPS) favorite Call of Duty was the second-most popular game on the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles worldwide, ranking second based on monthly active users. Battle royale game Fortnite ranked first.

How high is the brand awareness of Xbox Game Pass in the United States?When it comes to video game subscription users, brand awareness of Xbox Game Pass is at 79 percent in the United States. The survey was conducted using the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.How popular is Xbox Game Pass in the United States?In total, 32 percent of U.S. video game subscription users say they like Xbox Game Pass. What is the usage share of Xbox Game Pass in the United States?All in all, 27 percent of video game subscription users in the United States use Xbox Game Pass. How loyal are the customers of Xbox Game Pass?Around 23 percent of video game subscription users in the United States say they are likely to use Xbox Game Pass again.What's the buzz around Xbox Game Pass in the United States?In April 2025, about 22 percent of U.S. video game subscription users had heard about Xbox Game Pass in the media, on social media, or in advertising over the past three months.If you want to compare brands, do deep-dives by survey items of your choice, filter by total online population or users of a certain brand, or drill down on your very own hand-tailored target groups, our Consumer Insights Brand KPI survey has you covered.

As of April 2025, role-playing title Baldur's Gate 3 was the most critically acclaimed video game for the Xbox X/S console, based on an aggregate Metascore of 99 points. Elden Ring and it's expansion, The Shadow of the Erdtree, ranked second and third, respectively. Not all top Xbox Series X/S games are platform exclusives though: Baldur's Gate 3 is available on PS5 and PC as well, and second-ranked Elden Ring is also the most critically acclaimed gaming title on PlayStation.

In 2020, gaming software revenue for Microsoft's Xbox console series amounted to 4.79 billion U.S. dollars. However, consumer spending on Xbox gaming software is projected to jump to 6.35 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 as the fourth generation of Xbox consoles, the Xbox Series X and Series S, were released in November 2020, giving gamers more incentive to spend money on games for their new system.

A May 2023 survey of gaming audiences in the United States found that 32 percent of responding gamers stated that they subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's cross-platform video game subscription service.

As of September 2023, the global installed base of the Sony PlayStation 5 is **** million units, whilst the Microsoft Xbox Series S and Series X has an installed base of ** million units. The next generation Sony game console is forecast to have the highest installed base globally, rising to **** million units by 2024.

Since its release in November 2020, the Xbox Series X and Series S has sold well over ** million units worldwide. In 2024, the Xbox X/S sold approximately **** million units. The modern-day console wars While the term “console wars” was originally coined to describe the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo in the video game market during the 1980s and 1990s, the modern usage refers to the battle for supremacy between the PlayStation and Xbox brands. The most recent battle between these console giants has been fought out between their eight-generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. However, while the PlayStation 4 has sold over 45 million units in Europe alone, Microsoft’s console is yet to reach 60 million unit sales worldwide. This duel has also turned into a three-way battle thanks to the enormous success of Nintendo’s hybrid video game console, the Nintendo Switch. Despite being released over 3 years later than its rivals, the console has already racked up over *** million unit sales worldwide, approximately a quarter of which were in North America. The future of console gaming This fight for supremacy shows no signs of slowing down, with the next battle of the console wars upon the horizon. Sony continues to have the upper hand, as sales of its PlayStation 5 reached ** million in 2023. In comparison, estimates have Microsoft shipping *** million units of its Xbox Series X in 2023.

As of April 2022, Microsoft's Xbox gaming subscription services had nearly 34 million subscriptions through gaming consoles. The Xbox Game Pass was by far the most popular, having accumulated 21.9 million subscribers on Xbox consoles.

In 2020, retail software revenue for Microsoft's Xbox console series amounted to 1.67 billion U.S. dollars. The majority of consumer spending on Xbox gaming software took place in the online segment, with digital downloads, gaming subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass, and microtransactions generating 3.15 billion U.S. dollars during the same period.

By 2023, the legal market size of Microsoft XBOX gaming consoles was estimated to drop beneath ** million U.S. dollars. The grey market size of Microsoft XBOX gaming consoles was quite similar to the legal market in China in 2018.

The statistics shows the types of Xbox gaming platforms regularly used in affluent American households in 2018. In 2018, 26.76 percent of respondents who stated their income was high said they used a Microsoft Xbox One regularly.

The Xbox One is the eighth-generation video console developed by Microsoft. It was first released in November 2013 as a successor to the Xbox 360. Xbox One sales peaked in 2016 with over *** million units sold. About nine years later and following the release of the Xbox Series X/S in 2020, sales of the console has dropped to just ***** units sold worldwide in 2022. Microsoft announced they had discontinued the production of Xbox One in 2020. This brings the lifetime sales of Microsoft's latest console to nearly ** million units.

Microsoft's best-selling Xbox video game console is the Xbox 360, with almost ** million units shipped. The company's newest consoles, the Xbox Series X and S, have sold a combined **** million units as of February 2024.

By 2023, the grey market size of Microsoft XBOX gaming consoles was estimated to drop beneath ** million U.S. dollars. The grey market size of Microsoft XBOX gaming consoles was quite similar to the legal market in China in 2018.

As of 2024, Xbox held over ** percent of the console operating system market in India. This was an all-time high since the console's entry in the market in 2013. The Microsoft-developed console had a rocky start in the Indian market given Sony PlayStation's near-monopoly, as well as Indian gamers opting for more affordable options such as mobile gaming.