Amid Microsoft's announcement of quarterly results today for the three months ending September 30 was some positive news for its Xbox business, which has perennially drawn flak as a drain on the software giant's balance sheet. This past quarter, revenues from the Xbox increased by $53 million compared to last quarter, a 20% jump.

While the increased volume of hardware and software sales could have raised revenue as high as $85 million, price cuts around the market offset that figure by $32 million.