In a recent press release pertaining to Microsoft’s earnings in the October-December 2011 quarter, the software giant revealed that its revenue during the quarter touched $20.89 billion, marking a 5 percent year-on-year increase; thanks to robust growth across the majority of its units.

The earnings report showed that despite the fact that Microsoft’s profits during the mentioned quarter plunged marginally, from $6.63 billion the same quarter previous year to $6.62 billion this time round, the company sold as many as 66 million Xbox 360 controllers, and18 million Kinect sensors; and that its Xbox Live grew to a mammoth 40 million users worldwide.

The press release highlighted a statement which Microsoft’s chief operating officer Kevin Turner had made while speculating the ‘record’ holiday sales, saying: “In addition to the continued strength of our commercial business, this holiday season was the strongest in Microsoft history, thanks to good sales execution and compelling products like Xbox 360 and Kinect.”

With the Xbox 360 having already grabbed the top-spot in console sales for the last six months, with a 42 percent share of the market, the year-on-year increase in Microsoft’s revenue from the Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes Xbox 360 and peripherals, was 15 percent, to $4.44 billion.

In addition, the performance of Microsoft’s Business Division – which includes products like Office, SharePoint and Exchange – also surpassed expectations with a 3 percent revenue growth to $6.28 billion. Microsoft also revealed that, in the last 18-month period, approximately 200 million licenses have been sold by the company for its Office 2010 software.