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Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Pointed to Record Minecraft and World of Warcraft Forever Sales, but Circana Sees No Impact From Her Initiatives
Wccftech • • technology
Key Points:
- Despite Xbox CEO Asha Sharma highlighting positives like record sales of Minecraft and World of Warcraft Forever, analyst Mat Piscatella reports that Xbox's new initiatives have had little to no positive impact on sales or engagement data.
- Efforts such as the disc-to-digital program and making Gears exclusive have not improved hardware sales, which continue to decline, with some loss of distribution in the US.
- Removing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 from Game Pass at launch resulted in a 50% drop in player engagement on release day, and there is no clear evidence that this strategy increased full-price game sales.
- Piscatella criticizes Xbox for weakening the value proposition of Game Pass without boosting console or game sales, a problematic move especially after recent price increases ahead of the holiday season.
- Sharma attributes weak console sales to supply constraints and expects content and services revenue to grow next quarter, but the overall turnaround in Xbox’s hardware and engagement metrics remains unproven.
