Kinect leads Microsoft Q3 2011 results

Microsoft shared its Q3 2011 earnings results today, revealing that the launch of Kinect was among its biggest new profit-movers of the year. Led by the hands-free motion controlled gaming device, the Entertainment & Devices division saw a 60% increase year-over-year, the largest increase of any single division. It has brought in 1.93 billion this quarter (compared to 1.21 billion in the same period last year), and over 7 billion in the fiscal year so far.

Microsoft also credited the boost to Entertainment & Devices to Xbox Live, which the company says leads in transactional revenue over subscription revenue. In other words, you may be paying $60 for Xbox Live Gold, but you're probably buying more than $60 worth of virtual goods.

On the whole for the quarter, the company took in $16.43 billion, a 13% increase year-over-year. Revenue was up 21% in the Business division, 14% in the Online Services division (which includes Bing), and 11% in the Services and Tools division. Windows 7 was one of the few business aspects with lower profits this quarter, down 4% from the launch last year.

"Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all size are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications," said chief financial officer Peter Klein.