Microsoft and mobile gaming: How Activision Blizzard deal may help the company to enter mobile gaming industry
Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal earlier this year. Since the announcement, the deal has been under scrutiny of regulatory bodies of several countries. Microsoft has shared multiple plans of the company to convince the regulators to approve the acquisition deal. Currently, the deal is being investigated by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. During the filings, Microsoft has revealed its plans about expanding the Xbox Store to mobile devices by creating a new Xbox Mobile Platform that will include games from Activision and King.
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Why Microsoft wants to enter the mobile gaming area
One of the most popular download categories on app stores, both Apple App Store and Google Play Store, is gaming.
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Why the app store for Microsoft
The company has explained that by adding Activision Blizzard’s content, it can “create a next-generation game store that operates across a range of devices, including mobile.”
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Activision Blizzard’s existing communities will help
Microsoft has also mentioned that the company will try to expand the Xbox Store to mobile by using Activision Blizzard’s existing communities to attract gamers to the “new Xbox Mobile Platform.”
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Activision Blizzard’s mobile gaming revenue
The company added that the revenues from mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile and other King division titles (which was also the primary source of revenue) made up more than half of Activision Blizzard’s earnings in the first half of 2022.
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Microsoft wants to compete with Google and Apple
This acquisition deal looks like Microsoft’s opportunity to build its mobile gaming presence and compete with rivals like Google and Apple.
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Mobile game spendings on app store
TechCrunch reports that a gaming study conducted in the first quarter of 2022 revealed that every week users spend over $1.6 billion on mobile games via both the Apple App Store and the Google Play store.
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How Microsoft plans to move users from Google Play Store and App Store
Microsoft knows that asking mobile users to shift from Google Play Store and App Store will “require a major shift in consumer behaviour.” The company hopes that gamers may be interested to try something new if they can offer well-known and popular content like Call of Duty.
