14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has reported that its next-gen console, the Xbox One, has lost the company over $400 / €298 million, since it was released in November last year.
The information comes from the corporation’s annual earnings report for 2014, with Microsoft’s figures showing that the increase in production costs and advertising tied to the launch of the Xbox One led to the company’s losses.
The report reveals that the company sold a total of 11.7 million consoles (both Xbox One and Xbox 360) during the fiscal year of 2014, an year-over-year increase of 1.9 million units, leading to a massive increase in revenue.
However, the reported revenue of $1.7 / €1.27 billion was offset by the $2.1 / €1.57 billion that the company had to spend in order to produce, launch and market its latest computer entertainment system, the Xbox One.
The latest report from Microsoft’s main competitor on the console front, Sony, reveals that it managed to sell around 9 million units of the PlayStation 4 system, well ahead of Redmond’s sales of the Xbox One.
The last official data regarding the Xbox One was released back in April, when Microsoft revealed that they had shipped 5 million units to retailers all around the world.
The rough patch that Microsoft’s console hit started well before the console’s launch, with its disastrous announcement, when all the gaming community was appalled at seeing more DRM and more restrictions applied to the console.
The company has been struggling to gain a footing ever since, but the new generation of consoles is still early in its life cycle, so there is still hope for the Xbox One.