Research by an analysis firm shows that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard would allow Xbox to overtake PlayStation, and faster than we think.
After several months of struggle with the authorities, Microsoft became a true video game giant in 2023, by absorbing Activision Blizzard, after the acquisition of Bethesda Zenimax and other studios. For the firm, the objective is to become the leader in the sector in 2030.
Thanks to an analysis by Newzoo, we realize that Microsoft could already mark an important milestone by becoming number 2 in the sector, ahead of Sony PlayStation. But pay attention to the details.
A special year
The firm measured the level of income of manufacturers and publishers over the first half of the year. We see the ranking that we know today. Tencent Games largely dominates with 15 billion dollars in turnover, followed by Sony with 8 billion, then Apple with 6.9 billion (thanks to the App Store) and Microsoft with 6 billion. For comparison, Nintendo made $3 billion, Netease $5 billion, and EA $3.8 billion.
The agency then had fun with a little calculation. What would the ranking have been if Activision Blizzard was already owned by Microsoft. In the first half of the year, the two companies were still independent. In this case, Microsoft would have managed to collect $10.4 billion in revenue. The giant would therefore have overtaken Apple and Sony to position itself as number 2 in the sector, still behind Tencent Games.
We see to what extent Microsoft will now be able to compete with Sony in the video games sector. There are a few things to take into account. Activision Blizzard launched Diablo 4 in the first semester, and Overwatch 2 at the end of 2022. In other words, added to the results of Call of Duty, this is undoubtedly a particularly strong half-year for Activision Blizzard. Conversely, Sony did not release any major PlayStation Studio games at the start of the year, even though the company still launched the PlayStation VR 2. We can assume that this is an abnormally weak half-year for Sony.
Obviously, the strategies of Sony and Microsoft are also very different. Microsoft’s revenues now come from both its Xbox Game Pass subscription, but also from game sales on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch (Call of Duty, Minecraft), sales on PC and finally sales on Xbox console. Conversely, Sony is trying to diversify its sources of income with the release of games on PC, but remains above all tied to the future of its PlayStation console. If Microsoft manages to catch up with its competitor in terms of turnover, the same cannot be said for the more specific game console market.
It’s up to Microsoft to transform the experiment by managing both to restore the glory of Activision Blizzard, but also to publish quality games on time, capable of being attractive to its ecosystem. Microsoft failed to secure a nomination for Game of the Year at the Game Awards this year.