“Microsoft’s Activision Purchase and Sony’s Success: Latest Updates in Gaming Industry”

Microsoft’s business growth is slowing down, but the cloud is still growing

Finally, the EU trade commission allowed Microsoft to buy game company Activision Blizzard worth USS 69 billion or the equivalent of Rp. 1,021 trillion. The acquisition value will be the largest acquisition in the history of a world-class game company and the largest investment value in the technology industry globally.

Thanks to the acquisition of Microsoft, Activision Blizzard is the third largest game maker in the world after Tencent and Sony. Activision is one of the console and PC games with a large market share in the world, including their products Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would commercially benefit Microsoft to make Activision’s key games, such as Call of Duty, exclusive to its own cloud gaming platform.

The European Commission said the strategic deal would allow users to stream Activision games on any cloud streaming platform as well as a solution to fears of antitrust disputes like those between Apple and Epic Games which have been running for quite some time.

Previously, the European Commission has studied and analyzed whether Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision could distort competition in the console and cloud game market. One regulator in question is whether Microsoft can take Activision’s games and store them exclusively on the US giant’s own platforms.

Microsoft is trying to allay the commission’s concerns over making Activision games exclusively ahead of the EU decision. Microsoft President Brad Smith met with EU officials in February, after which the tech giant said it would bring Xbox PC games to Nvidia’s cloud gaming service. However, the chipmaker reportedly turned down the acquisition.

Sony is selling well

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PlayStation 5

Sony Corporation reported an operating profit or operating income of 1.21 trillion yen or Rp. 130 trillion in fiscal 2022 ending in March 2023. This figure exceeded Sony’s prediction of 1.18 trillion yen or around Rp. 127 trillion.

The biggest contribution to Sony’s revenue came from the PlayStation 5 or PS5 game console which sold 19.1 million PS5 units, higher than the previous year’s sales.

PS5 sales have not only contributed to boosting the performance of Sony’s gaming business, but also Sony’s business as a whole. Sony’s game division alone achieved revenue of 3.64 trillion Yen or IDR 391 trillion, up 33 percent from year to year (year-over-year/YoY).

Last year, Sony PS5 sales slowed down due to a shortage of semiconductor chip supplies. Now, the number of PS5 game consoles sold has reached 38.4 million units.

Not only PS5, Sony’s software division also makes a positive contribution to Sony’s business. PlayStation Network (PSN) monthly active users also rose to 108 million. Meanwhile, the number of PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) subscribers stagnated at 47.4 million users, as quoted by The Verge.

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