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.
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 revenue 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, with Apple and Google (17% each) taking the first place.
- Microsoft accounted for less than 10% of Activision Blizzard’s net revenue last year.
Fun Fact:
Sony was Activision Blizzard’s largest customer in 2020 accounting for 17% of it sales or ~$1.37 billion.
Microsoft was Activision Blizzard’s 4th largest customer in 2020, behind Apple and Google, accounting for 11% of its sales or ~$890m pic.twitter.com/9dlm6vhDhA
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 7, 2022
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.
The news comes in the wake of regulatory concerns about Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Last week, UK’s Competition and Markets Authority pointed out competition threats this deal might bring to the market, including that Xbox could prevent Sony from selling Call of Duty and other games on its platform.
Although Phil Spencer recently stated that CoD will stay on PlayStation for at least several more years, SIE CEO Jim Ryan called Xbox’s proposal “inadequate on many levels”, adding that it also might affect PlayStation gamers.
So it is no surprise that a big platform holder like Sony doesn’t want to lose one of its sales drivers, especially given how much money the Call of Duty series has been generating on PlayStation for years.