Microsoft deal not ‘all about Call of Duty’

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has said that the $100b deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is more about mobile games like Candy Crush Saga than console games

An interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast with Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft’s attempted $100b acquisition of Activision Blizzard is less about Call of Duty, and more about Candy Crush Saga.

Despite a lot of focus on the deal centring around Call of Duty and its future on PlayStation, Spencer thinks it’s a lot less important than people are making it out to be (thanks, The Verge). Instead, he wants people to focus on mobile gaming, which he says is the main driver behind the deal.

“In a funny way, the smallest screen that we play on is actually the biggest screen when you think about the install base,” Spencer said, “[Mobile] is a place where if we don’t gain relevancy as a gaming brand, over time the business will become untenable. If you’re not able to find customers on phones … then you really are going to get segmented to a niche part of gaming.”

Candy Crush Saga developer King was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016 for $5.9 billion USD. Picture: Beata Dudová via Pexels

Spencer further explained his reasoning here, saying that most of the growth in the games industry is happening in the mobile space, while the PC and console space is “basically flat”. He draws a comparison to Chinese gaming giant Tencent, saying that most of its revenue comes from mobile games like PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, and League of Legends Wild Rift.

Spencer goes on to say that Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two was on the money when they acquired mobile games giant Zynga earlier in May of this year, praising the company for “doing a better job” of building up their mobile gaming capability than Microsoft has. “They are now in a position where they have great PC franchises, great console franchises, and great mobile franchises”.

On the topic of Call of Duty, which has also been a big focus in regulators’ investigations, Spencer reaffirmed that the company wants the franchise on every platform possible, and that it’s committed to shipping Call of Duty on PlayStation. He also once again noted that Microsoft wants Call of Duty on Nintendo Switch, as well as on Xbox’s subscription service Game Pass, which is also accessible on mobile platforms through game streaming.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare II was recently announced to be the best-performing Call of Duty release on a PlayStation console. Picture: Activision

The $100b deal from Microsoft is currently facing an in-depth investigation from the European Commission, who’s entered phase 2 of their competition regulation investigation. The attempted acquisition is also under investigation by a number of competition regulators throughout the world, such as the UK’s CMA, the US’s FTC, and Australia’s own ACCC.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.