Microsoft loses $400m on Xbox One

In news that will no doubt please Sony, Microsoft – which spent $2.1 billion producing and marketing the Xbox One – has reported a loss of $400 million (£238m) since launching the console in November last year.

The Independent reports that the news comes from Microsoft’s annual earnings report for 2014, and shows the loss is directly from the increased costs of production and advertising surrounding the launch costs of the Xbox One.

It says that according to the report, Microsoft said that it had sold a total of 11.7 million consoles in the 2014 fiscal year, compared to just 9.8 million sold last year, and this had led to the company’s revenue increasing to $1.7 billion.

Nevertheless, this was set against the $2.1 billion it had to spend on the production and launching of the Xbox One.

Sony’s latest official reports claim that it has sold around 7 million PlayStation 4s compared to Microsoft selling 5 million Xbox Ones.

Meanwhile, This Is Xbox reports that the BBC iPlayer will be on Xbox One by the end of this year.

Which might just help them shift a few more units here in the UK.