XBox Delivers a Profit

NIntendo is king, but Microsoft's gaming division still managed to post its first ever year-long profits this week.

The latest NPD report may have been all Nintendo (again), but Microsoft had a milestone of its own worth crowing about this week: its gaming division posted its first full-year profit, ever.

It's quite an accomplishment for the division, which houses the Xbox team, especially considering the multi-year losses it has posted year-over-year before today.

As of June 30, the Xbox division on its own made Microsoft $426 million in operating profits, and $8.1 billion in total sales. According to the company's 4th quarter report, those numbers are up 34% from the year before, when it lost the company nearly $2 billion. Of course, the Entertainment and Devices division (which houses the Xbox team) as a whole still ended up losing $188 million for the year.

In its report, Microsoft said the gains were due to increased Xbox 360 sales, Halo 3, Xbox Live subscriptions and services, and accessory sales.