, though costs increased due to the company’s $35 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission following its handling of accusations of workplace misconduct.
Those “Call of Duty” sales are a major part of why Xbox owner Microsoft is adamant to cement its $69 billion . Combined with lucrative mobile revenue from publisher King, ownership of “Call of Duty” stands to put Xbox on equal footing with PlayStation when it comes to revenue, as Xbox currently sells about half as many systems as PlayStation does., including those at key teams under Xbox and sister publisher Bethesda. With first-party games at both units undergoing long development cycles and frequent release delays, it’s high time for Xbox to gain any kind of edge it can.
As much as Sony is fighting tooth and nail with global regulators to restrict the Activision Blizzard deal, the success ofhas opened PlayStation up to an even wider audience that can experience the original game on PC at the end of March, due to Sony’s embrace of the PC market in recent years. If PlayStation succeeds with its push into live services and mobile, it will underscore how critical it is for gaming companies to expand into multiple markets. But if the post-pandemic boom in content spend continues to prove unsustainable, the number of companies with the resources to do so is sure to keep shrinking.