One thing to note: Apple’s passive revenue from mobile games is roughly equal to Microsoft’s total Xbox revenue. Apple made $14.8 billion in calendar year 2022, compared with Xbox’s $15.56 billion in the same year-on-year period. It’s also important to note that Apple made more money from mobile games than Nintendo made over the course of 2022 ($14.8 billion from Apple versus $12.62 billion from Nintendo). Google’s passive mobile game revenue also nearly surpassed Nintendo’s full-year revenue throughout 2022.
The Microsoft-Activision merger isn’t just about Call of Duty. The best-selling franchise certainly includes the logic of Microsoft’s takeover—with over $31 billion in sales and 425 million copies sold, Call of Duty can’t be ignored—but understanding the whole deal requires Ask for a higher level perspective. Microsoft wants to use the attributes of Activision Blizzard King to disrupt the gaming industry on many levels. It’s not Xbox versus PlayStation, it’s Xbox versus all competitors, and ATVI games/services/content will give Microsoft an edge over supposed mobile game monopolies are Google and Apple. A glance at Microsoft’s latest pro-merger fact sheet highlights its mobile plans. According to Microsoft, citing data from analytics firm Newzoo, the mobile market is dominated by Tencent, Apple and Google. The data shows that the Big 3 combination of mobile games accounts for more than 64% of total global mobile game revenue by 2022.
Microsoft has revealed plans for a global video game store/platform that unifies multiple platforms. The Xbox brand unifies consoles and PCs using Game Pass, services, and content. Now, Microsoft wants to include mobile in that game plan, and so far it has — gamers can stream Xbox titles to mobile devices using Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Activision properties will greatly increase the value of the content offered in such a unified, cross-platform ecosystem across all aspects of the gaming industry, including dedicated consoles. PC games and apps, mobile games, and access to all games via cloud streaming.