Business is booming for Xbox. Microsoft has reported earnings for its Fiscal Year 2021 Q2, and included in the report are some new numbers that speak to how Microsoft's gaming division--like other gaming publishers--is riding high right now due in part increased spending on games due to COVID-19.

This is the first earnings release from Microsoft since it launched the Xbox Series X|S consoles in November. The release of those systems helped overall Xbox hardware sales jump by 86%.

Hardware revenue could have been higher were it not for product shortages. Analyst Daniel Ahmad said he believes the Xbox Series X|S consoles did not move as many units right away than the Xbox One did over the same timeframe. "This has been reflected in global sell-through data, too. Mainly due to production it seems," he wrote.