Microsoft blames Fortnite for a dip in its software sales

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It’s no secret that Fortnite is one of the biggest games in the world right now, and it’s absolutely raking in the cash – as does popular streamers playing it such as Tfue. Everyone in the world seems to be playing it – so much so that it seems to be causing the sales of other games to drop.

At least, that’s according to Xbox platformer holder Microsoft – which, in its quarterly FY2019 earnings report released today, blames Fortnite for a 3% drop in revenue from gaming software and services. That’s at least compared to this time last year – suggesting that either Fortnite has grown considerably since July 2018, or Microsoft simply didn’t have as much to offer people this year.

According to the earnings report, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue decreased US$233 million, which equates to around a 10% drop in sales. The sales of Xbox hardware went down by a massive 48%, which the platform holder suggests is “primarily due to a decrease in volume of consoles sold” – whether that’s due to the quality of games available or down to consumers waiting on the Xbox Scarlett, Microsoft didn’t say.

Regarding Fortnite and Microsoft’s game sales, the publisher also notes that “software and services revenue declined 3% against a high prior year comparable from a third-party title.” While the report declines to specifically mention the name of this apparently gigantic sales-stealing “third-party title”, analyst Daniel Ahmad confirmed on Twitter that the game in question is indeed Fortnite.


It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Microsoft’s software sales however, as the increasing success of Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Live, Xbox Ultimate, and Game Pass for PC – and various subscription price increases – meant that some of that revenue dip was offset.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the company sees Game Pass as its new “business model” and that Microsoft is “well positioned” to take advantage of this new market – and reap the revenues. It also has high hopes for its game streaming service Project xCloud too. Hopefully Fortnite won’t be blamed this time next year if that fails.

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Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/fortnite/microsoft-sales

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"Microsoft blames Fortnite for a dip in its software sales" :: Login/Create an Account :: 8 comments

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RyanPosted:

I think it's awful that they are trying to blame fortnite for their losses.

AnimePosted:

They have a point. At the same time game pass has become bigger.

Mario350Posted:

so everyone is blaming epic games for low sales lol thats because its true, but hey at least its mainly kids though but how are windows store sales down when you have to use it to buy the stupid vbucks that you get for free when your at like what level 10 or something in the free battlepass and its like 100 or something? but yeah fortnite just needs to be erased already next to csgo

OGTrey079Posted:

Maze I mean, they kind of have a point. Let's be honest.
You release 2 versions of the gamepass, both saving people money they would normally spend on new releases.
Fortnite was a massive game, so big that people were playing and buying nothing new, the only thing they would buy is skins.
Fortnite took the whole gaming community by storm and they made so many people stop buying new games or even play other games for a while.


You don't keep the games on gamepass tho so it's free money to them with the licensing they get

MazePosted:

I mean, they kind of have a point. Let's be honest.
You release 2 versions of the gamepass, both saving people money they would normally spend on new releases.
Fortnite was a massive game, so big that people were playing and buying nothing new, the only thing they would buy is skins.
Fortnite took the whole gaming community by storm and they made so many people stop buying new games or even play other games for a while.

AspiPosted:

This is absolutely typical microsoft. Something goes wrong, Look for something else to blame. Its sad because ive been on xbox for ages now and they do this all the time. As much as i dont like fortnite, its success has been phenomenal so rather than punch it down, Try and celebrate it at least. God.

OGTrey079Posted:

Lol blaming your decrease in sales on a games success. Perhaps put out good content and you wouldn't have this problem. I like Xbox but there's no reason for me to play on their system. Any game will be on pc that launches on Xbox so I'd be willing to buy a PlayStation over Xbox in future.

junoPosted:

Poor Microsoft, come out with something worth getting maybe? lol


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