Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that December video game content spending grew 3% in the U.S. when compared to a year ago, to $5.9B. Spending on subscription services increased by 24% when compared to a year ago, while the PC, cloud and non-console VR content segment gained 6%. 2025 annual video game content spending grew 1% compared to 2024, reaching $52.3B. 20% growth in spending on subscription services and a 1% increase in mobile offset declines across other content segments. Activision's (MSFT) "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7" was December's best-selling game across physical & tracked digital spending. 2025 marked the seventh consecutive year a "Call of Duty" game has been December's best seller. EA's (EA) "Battlefield 6" finished as 2025's best-selling video game in tracked full game dollar sales. "Battlefield 6" ranked 1st on both Xbox and the aggregated PC storefronts for the year while placing 2nd on PlayStation (SONY) behind only Take-Two's (TTWO) "NBA 2K26." Epic Games' "Fortnite" led in total active users across both PlayStation and Xbox platforms during 2025, according to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, with over half of all active users on the two ecosystems engaging with Fortnite at least once. Roblox (RBLX) was 2025's leading publisher in digital at retail spending for both December and the 2025 year. Digital at retail spending on Roblox during 2025 increased by 16% compared to 2024. Other top-selling premium games in the U.S. in December were EA's "Madden NFL 26" and "EA Sports FC 26," Nintendo's (NTDOY) "Pokemon Legends: Z-A," and "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond." Investors in Epic Games include Tencent (TCEHY), KKR (KKR), Disney (DIS), and Sony.
Wall Street analysts forecast MSFT stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MSFT is 631.36 USD with a low forecast of 500.00 USD and a high forecast of 678.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
34 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast MSFT stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MSFT is 631.36 USD with a low forecast of 500.00 USD and a high forecast of 678.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
32 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 480.580
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
Current: 480.580
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
Stifel
Brad Reback
Buy
downgrade
$640 -> $520
2026-01-26
New
Reason
Stifel
Brad Reback
Price Target
$640 -> $520
AI Analysis
2026-01-26
New
downgrade
Buy
Reason
Stifel analyst Brad Reback lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $520 from $640 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the company's upcoming earnings report. The firm expects Microsoft to post about 200 basis points of Azure upside, or 39% constant currency growth, inline with buyside expectations, the analyst tells investors in a preview. While fiscal Q3 represents a more difficult year-over-year Azure comp, the firm believes Microsoft can post a similar level of incremental sequential adds as Q3 of FY25, resulting in about 38% year-over-year CC growth guidance given sizable recent datacenter capacity expansions, the analyst added. However, the firm believes the company must get to a point where Azure growth meaningfully outpaces capex growth rates for the stock to effectively re-rate in coming quarters.
UBS
Buy
maintain
$650 -> $600
2026-01-23
Reason
UBS
Price Target
$650 -> $600
2026-01-23
maintain
Buy
Reason
UBS lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $600 from $650 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The continued ramp of Microsoft's large Fairwater AI data centers in Atlanta and Wisconsin is emerging as a key near-term catalyst for Azure growth, with the Wisconsin site coming online in Q1, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Progress at the Wisconsin build-out supports a higher Azure growth outlook ahead of Microsoft's January 28 earnings report, UBS says.
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Citi
Buy
downgrade
$690 -> $660
2026-01-21
Reason
Citi
Price Target
$690 -> $660
2026-01-21
downgrade
Buy
Reason
Citi lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $660 from $690 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Citi's reseller survey and partner data points were "more mixed" into Microsoft's fiscal Q2 results, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi expects an Azure beat in Q2 but reduced estimates for Microsoft's non-Azure businesses on weaker PC forecasts. The stock remains a top mega-cap idea at Citi.
Rothschild & Co Redburn
Alex Haissl
Neutral
downgrade
$500 -> $450
2026-01-21
Reason
Rothschild & Co Redburn
Alex Haissl
Price Target
$500 -> $450
2026-01-21
downgrade
Neutral
Reason
Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Alex Haissl lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $450 from $500 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares.
About MSFT
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company that develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of products and services in its portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services, spanning a variety of devices and platforms. It comprises Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services; Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services; LinkedIn, and Dynamics products and cloud services. The Intelligent Cloud segment consists of its public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services. It comprises server products and cloud services, including Azure, and enterprise and partner services, including Enterprise Support Services. Its More Personal Computing segment primarily comprises Windows and Devices, including Windows OEM licensing; Gaming, including Xbox hardware and Xbox content; Search and news advertising, comprising Bing and Copilot, Microsoft News, and Microsoft Edge.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
