Microsoft is Now the Biggest Video Game Publisher

According to Amphere, Microsoft was by far the biggest video game publisher in the world in December, thanks to Activision Blizzard. The report casts a new light on the acquisition, and Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy, both of which remain controversial in some circles.

But check out these stats–which come second hand, from VGC: Gamers spent $465 million on Microsoft games in December across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, compared to $366 million for second place EA. And 64 percent of those buying games from Microsoft came from PlayStation, driven primarily by Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. That game achieved 38 million monthly active users in November, Amphere says, and it’s likely that success continued into December.

“To keep games off of other platforms, we don’t think that’s the path,” Xbox head Phil Spencer said in a recent interview. “That’s not the path for us. It doesn’t work for us.”

Amphere says that Marvel Rivals, which was temporarily caught up in the same drama as TikTok, had 29 million monthly active users in December. And Tencent’s Path of Exile 2 generated $148 million. Amphere also noted that gamers spent 30 million hours playing Fortnite on just Christmas Day, which works out to an average of over 2 hours per gamer. Gamers spent 20 million hours playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 that day as well.

As for consoles, we only get some vague data. The PlayStation 5 is apparently selling better than the PS4 at a similar point in its life cycle, in the US. And the Xbox Series X|S consoles aren’t selling as well as the Xbox One.