Xbox sales fall slightly, while Xbox Live users and revenues rise

Today Microsoft released the numbers for its first fiscal quarter of 2016, the three month period ended September 30, 2015. Revenues were $21.7 billion, which beat analyst estimates. That's a 12 percent decrease over the same period last year, however. Net income was $5.4 billion.

As far as its games business goes, revenues increased "slightly" -- though the company does not break out its games numbers, instead lumping them in with the performance of its other devices, including Lumia phones and Surface tablets.

The company puts down this boost to sales of Minecraft (which helped push video game revenue up 66 percent) and increased Xbox Live users and revenues. Revenues for Xbox Live leapt 17 percent; monthly active users rose to 39 million, a 28 percent gain. These increases helped offset a marked decrease in sales of the Xbox 360 console, with Xbox family console sales dropping 17 percent.

It has been Microsoft's habit to report the combined sales of its two pieces of game hardware in past fiscal reports, but not this time around -- though earlier this month Xbox boss Phil Spencer admitted Sony's PlayStation 4 has a "huge lead" over his console.