Microsoft Dominates Gaming: $465M in Sales Driven by Call of Duty’s Success!

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Summary

  • Microsoft was the top video game publisher in December 2024, generating $465 million.
  • Most of this revenue can be attributed to the company’s Activision Blizzard acquisition.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 heavily contributed to Microsoft’s success.

In December 2024, it was Microsoft who stood as the world’s top video game publisher, despite the extensive media coverage surrounding hardware from Nintendo and PlayStation. The reason for Microsoft’s success? Their software sales have skyrocketed. The secret behind this growth lies in their strategy: acquiring studios and releasing games across multiple platforms, a move that has proven to be incredibly profitable for them.

Xbox consoles and related equipment have not been doing particularly well recently. In the most recent financial quarter, there was a 29% decrease in sales of Xbox hardware compared to the previous quarter. This follows a 42% decline in sales during the entire fiscal year 2024 when compared to the previous year. However, Microsoft’s overall gaming sector expanded during this period, largely due to robust performance from its services and software offerings. It seems that this trend is persisting into the current year as well.

Based on a report by analyst firm Ampere, as shared by VGC, Microsoft earned approximately $465 million from its game sales in December 2024, outpacing second-place publisher Electronic Arts (EA) by nearly $100 million. This significant revenue boost is largely attributed to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In the year 2024, Activision’s popular title, Call of Duty, surpassed the 500-million copies sold mark. With Microsoft now owning the Call of Duty franchise, sales and downloadable content (DLC) of these games contribute to its profits, even when they are purchased on rival hardware. Ironically, Ampere reports that 64% of spending on Microsoft’s titles in December was made by PlayStation users, meaning Sony is actually driving more Microsoft game sales than Xbox.

Call of Duty Helped Microsoft Games Draw Nearly Half a Billion Dollars in December

In December 2024, Microsoft saw significant publishing success, largely attributed to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. This game drew in tens of millions of users monthly to its launcher and boosted sales across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation platforms, thereby expanding Microsoft’s reach beyond its own consoles. The impressive sales figures serve as evidence that the company’s strategy of acquiring game studios without making their games exclusive to Xbox has been beneficial for their business. It is unlikely that Microsoft will alter this approach any time soon, with Xbox head Phil Spencer hinting at future acquisitions in the gaming industry.

In contrast to rivals emphasizing exclusive games and novel equipment, Microsoft’s approach stands out, and it appears to be yielding positive results for the corporation. This is encouraging news, especially since analysts forecast that Xbox will trail behind Nintendo and PlayStation in the upcoming console generation regarding system sales. However, if Microsoft continues to excel as a publisher, it might compensate for any lack of competitive edge in consoles.

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2025-01-29 19:34