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[Lunatic_Gamer]

Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad highlighted this information on Twitter, which was first released by Activision Blizzard in its annual filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

• As can be seen in a spreadsheet below, Sony accounted for 17% of Activision Blizzard’s total net revenues for 2020, or around $1.37 billion.
• It was followed by Apple (15%), Google (14%), and Microsoft (11%).
• However, Sony’s share fell to 15% in 2021, losing first place to Apple and Google (17% each).
• Microsoft, however, accounted for less than 10% of Activision Blizzard’s net revenue last year.

On top of that, Activision Blizzard noted that Sony and Microsoft were the two biggest customers in terms of gross receivables (sales, for which the company hasn’t received payment yet) last year, accounting for 22% and 20%, respectively.

This data shows the four platforms where Activision Blizzard makes the most money, with PlayStation being the leader on consoles.

Sony was Activision Blizzard’s largest customer by revenue in 2020, with Microsoft ranking fourth | Game World Observer

When it comes to game sales, Sony remained one of the biggest customers of Activision Blizzard for years. Microsoft, however, has been trailing behind not only PlayStation, but Google and Apple as well.

gameworldobserver.com

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Sounds like mobile is king now.

 

[Skifi28]

Please, make it to 25 pages!

 

[Godot25]

I find it interesting that PS4 outsold Xbox One almost 2,5:1 and yet Activision got 17% of revenue from Sony and 11% of revenue from Microsoft.
So, Activision got way more money from average Xbox customer then from PlayStation customer?

 

[tommib]

Apple and Google leading in percentage for 2021? So COD mobile is making more money than the console versions?

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Apple and Google leading in percentage for 2021? So COD mobile is making more money than the console versions?

Same thing happened in 2019. Looks like 2020 was the real outlier.

 

[Infamy v1]

I find it interesting that PS4 outsold Xbox One almost 2,5:1 and yet Activision got 17% of revenue from Sony and 11% of revenue from Microsoft.
So, Activision got way more money from every Xbox customer then from PlayStation customer?

Yeah, how did they only get 6% more than Microsoft with 2.5x the install base? Looks bad for Sony in comparison here.

 

[GametimeUK]

Probably will remain this way for "several more years".

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Yeah, how did they only get 6% more than Microsoft with 2.5x the install base? Looks bad for Sony in comparison here.

It's 6 more percentage points, or 54% more. But yeah, still underwhelming. Xbox audience loves shooters.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Yeah, how did they only get 6% more than Microsoft with 2.5x the install base? Looks bad for Sony in comparison here.

Your ability to spin this is masterfully.

 

[Banjo64]

Apple and Google leading in percentage for 2021? So COD mobile is making more money than the console versions?

Wish they’d slap that on Switch.

 

[lh032]

not surprising.
tbh, Microsoft getting Acti/Blizzard is a double win for them. One for them in terms of revenue, and another for disrupting their competitor revenue as well

 

[sinnergy]

Seems Sony fans have bad nights sleep relax , enjoy life , it’s only games .. they both buy developers , publishers and what not …

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Sony showing recipes to the FTC.

 

[reksveks]

Sony showing recipes to the FTC.

This ain't new news but it's probably not the % that is important imo. what % of sony's revenue is related to cod/abk is more important.

I do wonder how important King is to this deal.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

This ain't new news but it's probably not the % that is important imo. what % of sony's revenue is related to cod is more important.

I do wonder how important King is to this deal.

To Sony is not about Acti-Blzz acquisition. Is about CoD.

 

[akaFullmetal]

Yeah, how did they only get 6% more than Microsoft with 2.5x the install base? Looks bad for Sony in comparison here.

Does it?
Cod sells best in the west and not world wide. PlayStations sell world wide. You won't see much sales of cod in a place like Japan or certain Europe, asian countries where Sony sells plenty of their systems.
It's doesn't seem to be what you're inferring here.

 

[reksveks]

To Sony is not about Acti-Blzz acquisition. Is about CoD.

Trying to parse that. You are saying that Sony only cares about COD? Maybe but that wasn't the point i raised. The point is that % of Sony's revenue related to COD/ABK is more important than the % of ABK's revenue that's on Sony platforms for regulators.

If publisher x makes 90% of their money on PlayStation but they only account for 0.001% for PlayStation, PlayStation ain't losing much if Xbox buys out publisher X.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Trying to parse that. You are saying that Sony only cares about COD? Maybe but that wasn't the point i raised. The point is that % of Sony's revenue related to COD/ABK is more important than the % of ABK's revenue that's on Sony platforms for regulators.

If publisher x makes 90% of their money on PlayStation but they only account for 0.001% for PlayStation, PlayStation ain't losing much if Xbox buys out publisher X.

Sony dosen't care if it is free real state. This is why, when they talk about it, they are hyperfocused on CoD.

If regulators see Sony fricking out, they would pay more attention to it.

The acquisition by itself is not the issue. Is CoD the point of contention. As I said many times now. If the acquisition get approved with a condition, I bet that would be around CoD.

 

[yazenov]

I find it interesting that PS4 outsold Xbox One almost 2,5:1 and yet Activision got 17% of revenue from Sony and 11% of revenue from Microsoft.
So, Activision got way more money from average Xbox customer then from PlayStation customer?

Who gives a damn about this obscure metric? Like so what? Most of the shoot bang crowd owns an xbox while the Playstation crowd plays more variety of games with a diverse taste.

All that matters are the total revenue at the end of the day and the Playstation is king. Unit sales matter and this is the reason why it matters.

 

[reksveks]

Sony dosen't care if it is free real state. This is why, when they talk about it, they are hyperfocused on CoD.

If regulators see Sony fricking out, they would pay more attention to it.

The acquisition by itself is not the issue. Is CoD the point of contention. As I said many times now. If the acquisition get approved with a condition, I bet that would be around CoD.

Agree with those point but I don't think that these numbers have anything to say about the acquisition.

I also thought there would be a concessions about COD. I do wonder how far those concessions will go and what MS really wants out of ABK (specifically how much they value the King).

 

[reinking]

Sounds like mobile is king now.

Yep. When it comes to generating money it is. Unfortunately the methods that they use to generate money are making their way to console.

 

[yazenov]

Oh and Microsoft weren't kidding when they said they were competing with Google and Apple because they are yet again dead last in sales. Seems like a pattern.

 

[Jennings]

Congrats Sony, that's a big win with one of the biggest franchises in history. It's certainly one for the history books.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

All that matters are the total revenue at the end of the day and the Playstation is king.

Not to stop you from creaming your pants, but mobile is king. Playstation was in third place last year.

 

[Godot25]

Who gives a damn about this obscure metric? Like so what? Most of the shoot bang crowd owns an xbox while the Playstation crowd plays more variety of games with a diverse taste.

All that matters are the total revenue at the end of the day and the Playstation is king. Unit sales matter and this is the reason why it matters.

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I didn't expect it to be that close TBH, how is it that close?

How come Xbox customers spend more?

 

[yazenov]

Not to stop you from creaming your pants, but mobile is king. Playstation was in third place last year.

Due to the last console call of duty being extra shitty which was the more problem cause of the low sales on consoles. Blame the quality of the games, not the console players for not wanting anything to do with that turd.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Due to the last console call of duty being extra shitty which was the more problem cause of the low sales on consoles. Blame the quality of the games, not the console players for not wanting anything to do with that turd.

Same thing happened in 2019, so idk about that.

 

[Infamy v1]

Your ability to spin this is masterfully.

Interesting how you ignore others pointing out the same thing. I wonder why

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

That's the only way this makes sense, mathematically.

I didn't expect it to be that close TBH, how is it that close?

How come Xbox customers spend more?

CoD still has ties to Xbox due to the 360 generation, seemingly. That's what Sony was trying to pull away with the PS4 and why they are so aggressive currently because you have an entire gen of money spent that's about to go to waste.

 

[yazenov]

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

Not really no.

What this only may infer is that Xbox players buy more FPS shooters than PS players on average. However, that does not hold true for other genre of games such as Rpgs, adventure games, Japanese games, souls games and so forth.

So yeah, your obscure metric is meaningless to publishers where total consumers and total revenue are more important for their bottom line.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Agree with those point but I don't think that these numbers have anything to say about the acquisition.

I also thought there would be a concessions about COD. I do wonder how far those concessions will go and what MS really wants out of ABK (specifically how much they value the King).

The drama among fanatics is also around CoD. But no one is talking about King for example. Or the fact that CoD mobile makes a shit ton of money too. (Even more that on consoles?).

I think king is an insane money maker right? Does MS needs that?....not necessarily.

Is Xbox dry AF regarding exclusive content? Yes they are.

So in a pragmatic way the "console IP" are way more valuable for Xbox. The question is in the big picture. And the answer will be how MS responds if there is a condition around CoD. That would tell us how much is King valuable to MS.

 

[Pelta88]

AKA COD Sales beyond the boarders of the United States.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

I think king is an insane money maker right? Does MS needs that?....not necessarily.

Recently, Uncle Phil told us that the main reason why they started going after ABK was because of King.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Yeah, how did they only get 6% more than Microsoft with 2.5x the install base? Looks bad for Sony in comparison here.

How about the fact that not the entire ps audience cares about cod? It's one of the biggest games in the world but still only sells to a small fraction of the ps userbase. Also, the xbox audience has always skewed towards fps games.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Interesting how you ignore others pointing out the same thing. I wonder why



That's the only way this makes sense, mathematically.



CoD still has ties to Xbox due to the 360 generation, seemingly. That's what Sony was trying to pull away with the PS4 and why they are so aggressive currently because you have an entire gen of money spent that's about to go to waste.

Interesting.

Not really no.

What this only may infer is that Xbox players buy more FPS shooters than PS players on average. However, that does not hold true for other genre of games such as Rpgs, adventure games, Japanese games, souls games and so forth.

So yeah, your obscure metric is meaningless to publishers where total consumers and total revenue are more important for their bottom line.

Yeah, agree. Deffo looks that way and what the evidence shows in this instance.

 

[reksveks]

The drama among fanatics is also around CoD. But no one is talking about King for example. Or the fact that CoD mobile makes a shit ton of money too. (Even more that on consoles?).

Fanatics don't see the forest from the trees

I think king is an insane money maker right? Does MS needs that?....not necessarily.

Its the biggest part of ABK atm and generally the most profitable

Is Xbox dry AF regarding exclusive content? Yes they are.

Diablo 4 will be multiplat, OW2 is going to be and so is COD so they ain't getting much console exclusives in the short term. Activision won't really sort it out, they have even ruled out exclusive modes for COD effectively.

So in a pragmatic way the "console IP" are way more valuable for Xbox. The question is in the big picture. And the answer will be how MS responds if there is a condition around CoD. That would tell us how much is King valuable to MS.

Thats first bit is debatable. King gets them into mobile in a proper way which could be interesting if the OAMA/DMA passes, it gives MS a big option re: mobile app stores but yeah, it will be interesting to see what concessions they make.

Going back to Jim's comments, I wonder if even a discount on whatever the COD in-game currency for GP users would be upsetting to him.

 

[Kilau]

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

Total install base doesn’t matter in this situation.

We need the split of CoD players on each system.

Edit: I guess it’s not even just CoD specifically. We need total users on all Actiblizz titles between the systems.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Fanatics don't see the forest from the trees


Its the biggest part of ABK atm and generally the most profitable


Diablo 4 will be multiplat, OW2 is going to be and so is COD so they ain't getting much console exclusives in the short term. Activision won't really sort it out, they have even ruled out exclusive modes for COD effectively.


Thats first bit is debatable. King gets them into mobile in a proper way which could be interesting if the OAMA/DMA passes, it gives MS a big option re: mobile app stores but yeah, it will be interesting to see what concessions they make.

Going back to Jim's comments, I wonder if even a discount on whatever the COD in-game currency for GP users would be upsetting to him.

What I am saying is:

Putting candy crush on Xbox wouldn't be the win Xbox needs right now.

People have meme #CryingJim. It's fucking funny. But Jim has to do so. Anything favoring CoD on Xbox will make Jimbo poop his pants of anger and frustration.

 

[reksveks]

Putting candy crush on Xbox wouldn't be the win Xbox needs right now.

Xbox ain't the console no more would be my reply.

I have no issues with what Jim has said.

 

[hemo memo]

If Sony can stop the crying misery over Cod Acti-Bliz deal and instead buy a meaningful purchase like Square Enix instead of the live servie-mobile studios.

 

[poodaddy]

Sony showing recipes to the FTC.

What are they cooking? I hope it's banana bread, I fuckin love banana bread.

 

[Jim Ryan other Clone]

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

Or PS customer has more options to spent his money e.g. more games to play means less people spend all they time in one or two games. In 2020 When the TLoU2, GoT, DS etc came people that had Playstation could buy a new games while the Xbox owners were scratching theirs balls until they bled or made bullshit claims like yours.

 

[Kiraly]

People seem really triggered over what has been called an obscure metric.

 

[Infamy v1]

How about the fact that not the entire ps audience cares about cod? It's one of the biggest games in the world but still only sells to a small fraction of the ps userbase. Also, the xbox audience has always skewed towards fps games.

While I somewhat agree, the disparity is still very odd bevause your argument applies both ways.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Apple and Google leading in percentage for 2021? So COD mobile is making more money than the console versions?

The tweet mentions Activision Blizzard, so King games are included.

 

[CeeJay]

Who gives a damn about this obscure metric? Like so what? Most of the shoot bang crowd owns an xbox while the Playstation crowd plays more variety of games with a diverse taste.

All that matters are the total revenue at the end of the day and the Playstation is king. Unit sales matter and this is the reason why it matters.

Haha gave me a laugh.

You think that Sony are putting out a more diverse variety of games? Where are your proper RPGs, Sims, RTS, Metroidvanias, Arcade racers, etc etc?

Seems to me that Sony focus mainly on 3rd person action adventures with only really GT as a multi entry game that sits outside of that genre. There are one or two others such as Astro, Sackboy, Destruction All-Stars but these are quite few and far between and usually much smaller titles.

 

[SaucyJack]

I find it interesting that PS4 outsold Xbox One almost 2,5:1 and yet Activision got 17% of revenue from Sony and 11% of revenue from Microsoft.
So, Activision got way more money from average Xbox customer then from PlayStation customer?

Does Microsoft have a platform other than Xbox I wonder?

 

[Three]

If Sony can stop the crying misery over Cod Acti-Bliz deal and instead buy a meaningful purchase like Square Enix instead of the live servie-mobile studios.

For what? So they block future xbox games? No thanks. Sony is already funding SE projects and making games for Sony's console.

 

[adamsapple]

About that

24,87 billion for PlayStation
15,3 billion for Xbox

(calendar year 2021)

Install base
117 + 21 million PS4 + PS5 consoles
vs.
50 + 15 million Xbox One + Series X/S consoles

Still it does not make very much of a sense right? And basically confirms what Activision reports. That average Xbox customer is spending more than PS customer.

I think king is an insane money maker right? Does MS needs that?....not necessarily.

They don't need the immediate-money, they need a foothold into mobile gaming and that is what King is.

Phil directly said as much in the interview a couple of weeks ago.