Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood has tasked the Xbox team with finding alternative ways to increase profits.
Microsoft suffered significant losses last year, mainly due to the integration of the Call of Duty series into the Game Pass subscription. According to a former company employee who wished to remain anonymous, the abandonment of traditional sales led to a loss of more than 300 million dollars on consoles and PCs. This was reported by Bloomberg.
In response to the financial challenges, Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood has tasked the Xbox team with finding alternative ways to increase profits, according to sources within the company, both current and former employees.
According to analysts, Microsoft's strategy was only beneficial for the players themselves, but not for the business. Direct sales revenue has fallen significantly.
Game Pass did not live up to the expected explosive growth after the purchase of Activision, and Microsoft realized that the infrastructure costs did not match their pricing model.
Former Xbox employees familiar with internal workflows confirm that adding Call of Duty to Game Pass made the game available to millions of subscribers, but drastically reduced the number of copies sold. Despite this, the latest installment in the franchise — Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — became the best-selling game in the US in 2024 and a record holder in sales in the history of the series. However, according to IGN, the main contribution was made by the PlayStation console, which accounted for 82% of all sales.
