Microsoft's latest earnings report indicates the Xbox division enjoyed its first-quarter revenue of the last 20 years in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2022, reaching $3.61 billion of a 4% overall revenue increase quarter over quarter (H/T Windows Central).

Xbox hardware largely drove that revenue hike, as sales of the Xbox Series X|S and its attendant accessories brought in a 13% increase over the previous quarter. That made up for the 3% decrease in revenue the business experienced in its software and services departments, which Microsoft attributed to lower first-party and third-party game sales.

Microsoft also reported "lower engagement hours," in the quarter balanced against "higher monetization" and growth among Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. Although the report did not mention a new total Game Pass subscriber count, CEO Satya Nadella said PC Game Pass surged 159%. The last hard number the company has released for Game Pass subscribers put the total at 25 million in January, but Microsoft has yet update that figure publicly.

As a whole, Mircosoft brought in $50.1 billion in revenue during the quarter, an 11% increase over the previous quarter, which amounted to a profit of $17.6 billion (a curious 14% downturn). The company laid off about 1,000 employees earlier this month.

This article was originally published on dbltap as Xbox Enjoys Best First Quarter Revenue of Past 20 Years.