The Xbox Series X and S are selling better than the PS5 in the West. In shape, Microsoft is taking the opportunity to seek new takeovers in the sector.
Microsoft is doing very well, like the other tech giants. The firm reported its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 (ending March 31, 2022) with revenue of $49.4 billion for net income of $16.7 billion. All sectors of the brand are doing well, especially gaming through Xbox.
Xbox beats PlayStation in the Western market
If Microsoft does not give more or less any interesting information concerning its video game activity in its financial report, the firm was more talkative during its conference with investors. Satya Nadella, the boss of Microsoft, was able to confirm that ” Xbox Series S and X consoles have gained market share globally for two quarters in a rowand Xbox was “next-gen market leader over the quarter in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Western Europe“. If Microsoft takes care to add “next gen“, it is because the firm compares itself above all with the PS5, a Sony console launched at the same time. Nintendo has remained the leader in the console market for several years with its Nintendo Switch consoles.
But Xbox’s strategy isn’t just about selling consoles anymore. Satya Nadella has announced that more than 10 million people have already started streaming a game through Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the Xbox Game Pass service has seen a 45% increase in game time over the past 12 months. This also translates into a 66% increase in gaming revenue for the Azure branch, responsible for building a cloud for all video game developers.
Remember that if Microsoft indicates that it has been ahead of PlayStation for two quarters, the PS5 generally remains the market leader for game consoles.next-gen. Sony’s console benefits from the aura of the PlayStation family, all of whose home consoles have been popular (sometimes belatedly), especially in France. The recent success of the Xbox can be explained on the one hand by Microsoft’s paid strategy, but also and above all by a question of production capacity. Since the beginning of January, it has become very rare to see the PlayStation 5 in stock, much rarer than Xbox Series X or S.
Buybacks will continue
Microsoft is still in the middle of its takeover of Activision-Blizzard-King, unveiled earlier this year, but the firm is already planning for the future. And obviously, other redemptions are to be expected on the horizon. The Video Games Chronicle site was able to get hold of a job offer published by Microsoft to find the head of a team dedicated to mergers and acquisitions for Xbox. The objective of this team isassess growth opportunities in the video game industry” and “lead Microsof’s video game M&A program (such as Double Fines, Activision Blizzard, Zenimax)“.
It seems clear that Microsoft will not announce major takeovers before having the fire to make on the integration of Activision-Blizzard, but the firm should therefore not stop at this takeover. The video game sector remains the target of a concentration of players. Recently, we learned that Ubisoft could possibly be the subject of an acquisition.
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