In a recent report published by Newzoo, it was proposed that if Microsoft had acquired Activision Blizzard sooner, then the combined forces of said companies would have pushed Microsoft Gaming’s game software revenue above Sony’s. That would have technically put Xbox above PlayStation in the gaming charts for the first time in years – if not ever.
Outside of that projection, Microsoft came in fourth place in H1 of 2023, landing behind the ever-dominant Tencent, Sony, and then Apple, which sat in third place. It was a seventh-place finish for Activision Blizzard, but if the all-important acquisition had happened last year, for instance, then Microsoft Gaming would be sitting in second place, looming over Sony and the PlayStation brand.
Paradigm Shift
In a follow-up report written in Windows Central, it was claimed that this would be the first time in history that Microsoft would outpace Sony in the gaming stakes. It would put the North American organisation still some way behind China’s Tencent, but let’s face it, nobody is going to beat that company anytime soon.
Tencent is a monumental organisation with a staggering number of brands and investments under its belt, boasting the ownership of some iconic labels like Riot Games. It also has a massive foothold in the mobile gaming space, which is pound-for-pound the most valuable gaming market on the planet, accounting for around 49% of all gaming revenue.
According to NewZoo’s report, Tencent pulled in a whopping $15.4 billion in game revenues in H1 of 2023. Sony (along with PlayStation) sat at around $8.08 billion, and Microsoft at just over $6 billion.
The long and short of this debate is that, with Activision Blizzard and Microsoft’s game revenues being compounded, it means that in H1 2023, Microsoft Gaming would have topped $10.4 billion, as represented by Newzoo in a graph. That means the green team would have effortlessly dominated the blue team.
Could this be the start of a paradigm shift in the gaming industry? Will next year’s data show exactly what Newzoo has portrayed in this report?
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