Microsoft (MSFT) Q2 2016 Earnings: Xbox Live Shows Strong Holiday Growth

The exact number of Xbox One units sold last quarter remains a mystery after Microsoft announced its earnings report for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2016 on Thursday. The company's More Personal Computing unit, which houses Xbox operations, posted $12.7 billion in revenue, down 5 percent year-over-year.

Still, Microsoft did emphasize a strong holiday season for Xbox One and growth in the number of Xbox Live active users.

There are now 48 million active Xbox Live users, a 30 percent increase from the same period a year ago. Xbox Live added nine million users for the three months that ended December 31, 2015.

"It was a strong holiday season for Microsoft highlighted by Surface and Xbox,” Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, said in a statement. Microsoft emphasized deeply discounted Xbox One bundles with exclusive games "Halo 5: Guardians," "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and "Forza Motorsport 6" during the holiday season. The addition of Xbox 360 backward compatibility was also an important factor in the strong holiday for Xbox One.

While mentioning the Xbox One was outpacing the Xbox 360 and the former was the best-selling console in Xbox history, there have been no concrete sale figures since an earnings release in July 2015. Microsoft reported 1.4 million Xbox One consoles sold during that period.

VentureBeat estimated 1.99 million Xbox One units sold in Microsoft's fiscal first quarter ending Sept. 30, with around 15 million Xbox One consoles sold in total since it was launched on November 2013.

Ahead of Sony's earnings report Friday, the Japanese electronics giant has shared PS4 sales figures up to January 3, 2016. Since its launch in November 2013, Sony has sold 35.9 million units globally. Sony also announced a 60 percent year-over-year increase in PlayStation Plus subscribers during the same time period.