Microsoft recently disclosed in its filings with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it plans to develop a new “Xbox Mobile Platform” that will include mobile games by Activision and King. The CMA is currently looking into Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The inclusion of Activision Blizzard’s content as a consequence of the purchase will increase Microsoft’s capacity to develop a next-generation gaming shop that works across a variety of platforms, including mobile. Building on the existing gaming communities owned by Activision Blizzard, Xbox will try to expand the Xbox Store to mobile devices in order to draw users to a new Xbox Mobile Platform, the firm said in its filings.
It comes as no surprise that Microsoft wants to join in on the fun, given that mobile games are among the most downloaded items from app stores. According to a graph on the Activision Blizzard website that Microsoft acquired, the mobile gaming sector will be worth $85 billion by 2020.
In its CMA filings, Microsoft also said that in the first half of 2022, “Mobile gaming sales from the King division and games like “Call of Duty: Mobile,” as well as ancillary income, were more than half of Activision Blizzard’s revenues.”
Competitors Google and Apple seems to be Blizzard
An Arrangement with Activision Microsoft’s strategy to expand its mobile gaming footprint and compete with competitors Google and Apple seems to be Blizzard.
But competing with the big internet companies won’t be simple. Consumers spend more than $1.6 billion each week on mobile games on the App Store and Google Play Store, according to a gaming research by data.ai and IDC.
However, a significant change in consumer behavior is necessary to get users of mobile devices to stop using the Google Play Store and the App Store. Microsoft wants to encourage players to try new things by giving them familiar and popular content.
The purchase of Savage Game Studios was announced by Sony’s PlayStation in August. The mobile game developer will collaborate with Sony’s new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division to advance mobile gaming, according to the Xbox rival.
Netflix is a major streaming service and another, although smaller, rival in the mobile gaming market. The company opened California and Finland game studios. However, it has trouble drawing in players. Less than 1% of Netflix’s members, according to a recent study, play mobile games.
