Microsoft was the top publisher on the PlayStation Store by pre-orders in Q1 2025
Gaming revenue is up for Microsoft year-on-year but hardware revenue is down
Microsoft says it was the top publisher on the PlayStation Store for pre-orders and pre-installs in the first quarter of 2025.
During an earnings call on Wednesday for the company’s financial results for Q3 FY25 – covering January to March 2025 – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that the company’s games had the most pre-orders and pre-installs on both the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Store during that period.
The company also reported that gaming revenue grew 5% compared to the same period the previous year, while Xbox content and services revenue grew 8% “driven by growth in Xbox Game Pass, Call of Duty and Minecraft“.
However, it also noted that Xbox hardware revenue declined 6% year-on-year, further highlighting the company’s shift in strategy to remain in the hardware business but also make its games available on multiple non-Xbox platforms.
“We continue to transform the business and focus on margin expansion, as we bring our games to over 500 million monthly active users across devices,” Nadella said during the call.
“We ended the quarter as the top publisher by pre-orders and pre-installs on both Xbox and the PlayStation Store. PC Game Pass revenue increased over 45% year-over-year. With Xbox Play Anywhere, players now can access more than 1,000 games they can play across console and PC.
“And just last week we brought cloud gaming to LG TVs. Cloud gaming set a new record, surpassing 150 million hours played for the first time this quarter.”
It’s likely that many of these pre-orders and pre-installs made by the end of March 2025 were for a trio of major Microsoft-published titles – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which released on PS5 on April 17), Forza Horizon 5 (which followed on April 29) and Doom: The Dark Ages (which is released on May 15).
Nadella’s claims about Microsoft’s presence on Sony‘s storefront echoed similar claims made during the previous quarter’s earnings call, where he emphasised that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the top-selling game on both Xbox and PlayStation during that period.
Data published by Ampere in January also found that $465 million was spent on Microsoft games over December, making the company the world’s biggest publisher across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox that month.
During Wednesday’s call, Nadella also reiterated Microsoft’s plans to integrate AI across Xbox, referring to its new Copilot for Gaming system and its controversial Muse model, which “can generate gameplay in real-time”.
Further reading
The company describes its Copilot for Gaming service as an “AI-driven sidekick” which is “designed to be your personalised gaming companion”.
One example shown by the company during a presentation in March appeared to show the Copilot AI analysing the player’s situation in real-time and offering advice on it. The player is shown in the character select screen in an Overwatch game, asking the AI what to do when their favourite character Echo has already been chosen by someone else.
“Echo’s taken, but Cassidy would be a solid pick with this team,” the AI replies. “His mid-range hitscan and Mercy’s damage boost will work great on Ilios Ruins. Plus you’ve done great with him on this map before.”
Later in the demo, the player dies quickly and asks Copilot what happened. “You stayed in the fight too long after your teammates were down,” it replies. “Diving straight into Ramattra was a death sentence. Next time, retreat to regroup with your team.”
