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Microsoft Rebuts Recent Reports On Current Performance Post-Activision Blizzard Deal

More than a year after the official closure on Microsoft’s success for Activision Blizzard King becoming the next welcomed acquisition to Xbox, the firm’s momentum to use its new purchase has been tame to say the least. Although titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as well as other releases including Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled & Spyro: The Reignited Trilogy were added to Xbox Game Pass, the amount still untapped is surprising.

While more games appear to be on the horizon such as the list of Call of Duty titles recently being listed on the Microsoft Store, players would expect more from Xbox already. What’s more, Xbox’s performance as a platform is also put into question as well. Despite the console itself still tailing behind Nintendo & PlayStation, Activision Blizzard King is responsible for the bounce back in Xbox Content & Services last year.

And with even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stating that the firm is to “double down” on gaming with the deal now completed, one report has issued Microsoft falling short on the purchase. According to The Information, analyst Danny Fish said “Activision has been disappointing” in terms of the overall return for Microsoft. Added, the report also mentioned Nadella contemplating pulling the plug on Xbox as per a conversation back in 2021 on the future of the platform.

However, Insider Gaming did reach out to Microsoft/Activision on the matter in which spokespersons denounced the claims. The representatives issued that the report from The Information is lacking in accuracy and “through omission is misrepresenting the business.” Also, the firms did provide information that counters the statements made in the report.

Over the past fiscal year, Activision Blizzard accounted for more than 85 percent of increased revenue generated for Xbox. Since Q2 FY2024 onward, there has remained an incline in Xbox content and services: Q2 – 61%; Q3 – 62%; Q4 – 61% all show an increase from the acquisition. Q1 FY2025 was also met with a return of 61% on behalf of the deal as well. 

Nadella in that same earnings report remarks on Activision’s performance: “We set new records for monthly active users in the quarter, as more players than ever play our games across devices and on the Xbox platform,” adding that Xbox is “positioned for long-term growth.” On the matter of Microsoft slimming its Xbox business, the firm reiterated on its comment prior that its “all-in on gaming.”

Nadella in a Xbox Wire post shared this sentiment with Xbox’s future in mind as the Activision Blizzard deal was being pursued. “As a company, Microsoft’s all-in on gaming. We believe we can play a leading role in democratizing gaming and defining that future of interactive entertainment, quite frankly, at scale.” Microsoft then responded that it is “well over 500 million monthly players and over the last year, we’ve seen consistent growth in monthly users on cloud.”

The remaining comment that Microsoft acknowledged was on Azure servers being overlooked by other studios did state: “[It] conflates an opinion that developers are scared of profit loss with the fact that the business is already set up to pay developers up front if that’s their choice for how they want to structure deal”.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s rebuttal for this recent report?

Source: Insider Gaming

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