Microsoft as a whole was stung with an 14 percent year-on-year decline in profit for its most recent fiscal quarter ending September 30th.  A 39 percent drop in revenue from sales of Windows and Windows Live products didn't help, and this was attributed the sheer amount of revenue invested in the software giant's Windows 7 pre-order programs.  The overall profit decline was still smaller than what analysts had previously projected. Another bright spot proved to be Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, home of the Zune and Xbox 360 businesses, boosted by demand for the Xbox 360.

The E&D's revenue only slightly increased to $1.89 billion USD, but this still led to $312 million USD in quarterly profit.  This is nearly double the $159 million USD profit earned during the same three-month period back in 2008.  Xbox 360 hardware shipments also fell slightly to 2.1 millino units for the quarter. Profitability was achieved in light of fairly flat sales through decreased Xbox 360 platform costs, further illustrating the benefits of continually maintaining console production processes. Microsoft also achieved mastery in September by making up nearly 32 percent of the gaming industry's overall revenue through hardware and software sales, as tracked by the NPD Group.

Microsoft's general manager of investor relations, Bill Koefoed, underlined confidence in the company's Xbox 360 business and confirmed in this morning's earnings call that the platform now benefits from an 8.7 software attach ratio.  This means an average of 8.7 Xbox 360 games are sold for each console. Furthermore, the Xbox 360's global install base has now hit over 34 million units, an increase of 3 million units over just this past two months.  Xbox Live revenues also increased 50 percent.