Halo 5, Minecraft help spike Microsoft gaming revenues, record Live users

Xbox had a pretty good second quarter, largely thanks to Halo 5 and Minecraft.

Microsoft has posted financial results for its second quarter, ending December 31 2015.

Halo 5: Guardians and Minecraft were cited as major performers in the games segment, driving software sales up 57% year-on-year.

Overall, though, the gaming segment's revenues grew just 9% year-on-year – and that's after currency adjustments. The explanation for this lesser spike is that hardware didn't keep up. Microsoft had nothing bad to say about Xbox One (second place to PS4 isn't a sorry achievement) but noted rapid declines in Xbox 360 console sales.

Still, it was all pretty positive; Xbox Live monthly active users are up 30% percent year-on-year to 48 million, which is a new record.

Xbox has always had an uneasy position within Microsoft, but COO Kevin Turner made a point of highlighting Xbox alongside Surface as key factors in Microsoft's “strong” holiday season.

In general, the company recorded a 10% yea-on-year decline in GAAP revenues to $23.8 billion.