Microsoft's Xbox division posts $172M loss even as slim models start selling

Microsoft‘s Xbox business has been smooth sailing of late, and the lowered cost of production has enabled the company to introduce its new slim model recently. That said, in the most recent quarter ended June 30, the Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD), which houses Xbox, PC consumer and Zune, saw its operating loss  increase 22 percent year-over-year to $172 million. Sales, however, jumped 27 percent to $1.6 billion.

It’s worth noting that on a 12-month basis, EDD revenues were essentially flat, but net income soared 529 percent to $679 million. In the quarter, Microsoft sold 1.5 million Xbox 360 consoles compared to 1.2 million a year ago, thanks to sales of the new slimmer Xbox 360. But for the fiscal year, Microsoft shipped only 10.3 million consoles compared to 11.2 million a year ago. See Industry Gamers for more.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.