Despite announcing disappointing sales overall as a company, the Xbox unit was a bright spot this past quarter for Microsoft, which is now just one quarter shy of posting its first annual Xbox profit.

The company posted a divisional profit of US$89 million for the three-month period ending in March, citing brisk sales of Xbox 360, Halo 3, Xbox Live service fees, and 360 accessories. Last year, the company was deep in the red for the same period.

It was "an outstanding Xbox quarter,'' said analyst Peter Misek in a statement to Bloomberg. "It's just amazing that a company this size is being driven by video games.''

Earlier Friday, Nintendo announced quarterly profits of $2.5 billion, more than 28 times the amount of the stated (and healthy) Xbox earnings.