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Activision making more money on PC than consoles and the gap is widening

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69

The PC is about to get more important for one of the biggest videogame companies in the world. According to Activision Blizzard's latest financial report(opens in new tab), the PC platform outperformed consoles by $27 million at the start of 2023, continuing a trend with the Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch 2 publisher that's been consistent for nearly a year now.

Activision's latest financial report marks the third quarter in a row that PC outsold console, and there's reason to believe the trend will continue throughout 2023. Activision attributes its 74% increase in PC revenue since this time last year to the success of Call of Duty and Overwatch 2, but it also specifically highlights higher revenues for WoW: Dragonflight and Diablo Immortal (two games that aren't on console).

There's gold in these personalized computing hills, and Activision isn't the only one to have noticed. Microsoft surely likes to see its growing PC audience as it fights to unblock its $69 billion acquisition(opens in new tab). Sony recently reaffirmed its commitment to developing PC ports for its biggest PlayStation games because, apparently, they make a ton of money(opens in new tab).

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Seems PC gaming was merely pretending to be dead
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Kids are now after pcs more than ever. Consoles are more and more for us older generation but thanks to twitch etc these kids think that pc is the only legit place to play these big games like apex, warzone etc.

Consoles still do well and will always do well bit there is deffo a shift to pc with younger ages than before.
 
Found this in their earnings report.

The increase in net revenues from digital online channels for the three months ended March 31, 2023, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022, was primarily due to higher revenues from:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard;
• Diablo Immortal;
• World of Warcraft;
• Overwatch 2; and
• the Candy Crush franchise.

This increase was partially offset by lower revenues from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
 

Wildebeest

Member
I really expected Overwatch 2 to be doing worse than it is for such an old and frustrating game, but the F2P GaaS model really is an unstoppable juggernaut.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Blizzard is currently the largest factor in the PC's growth within Activision. While Blizzard games are only making about half as much as Call of Duty, 72% of that revenue is on PC and just 8% is on console. Call of Duty's revenue is more evenly split: 59% console, 26% PC, and 15% mobile. Blizzard's console audience could grow significantly when Diablo 4 launches in June simultaneously on PC and consoles (a first for the series).
Blizzard doing the work for PC.
 

T-Cake

Member
Kids are now after pcs more than ever. Consoles are more and more for us older generation but thanks to twitch etc these kids think that pc is the only legit place to play these big games like apex, warzone etc.

Consoles still do well and will always do well bit there is deffo a shift to pc with younger ages than before.

I think is a good post but despite the humongous library that PC has, the kids are literally playing a handful of titles as you mention like Apex, Warzone, Overwatch, CS:GO, Fortnite, LoL, WoW, etc. It's a terrible shame. But given the state of the ports lately, it's probably a good thing. :p
 

yazenov

Member
Probably attributed to Overwatch 2, Diablo, and WOW. The 2 former games not many people give a fuck on consoles and the latter is exclusive on PC. Cool for pc I guess?
 
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Fbh

Member
27 Million revenue or profit?
Because if it's 27 million revenue that would make PC and consoles almost tied.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I think is a good post but despite the humongous library that PC has, the kids are literally playing a handful of titles as you mention like Apex, Warzone, Overwatch, CS:GO, Fortnite, LoL, WoW, etc. It's a terrible shame. But given the state of the ports lately, it's probably a good thing. :p

Oh yeah, it's deffo still a selection of games but console is no longer the place to play these. I think kids up to like 13 will be on console then a vast majority are moving to pc.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Probably attributed to Overwatch 2, Diablo, and WOW. The 2 former games not many people give a fuck on consoles and the latter is exclusive on PC. Cool for pc I guess?

Keep in mind they had the highest selling console game of the year last year and still they made more money on PC. The market is massive.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
that doesnt say much about PC gaming though. Probably the same group of people playing the same activision games?
Perhaps im wrong since i dont play most of their games anyway
 
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yazenov

Member
Intel, AMD and Nvidia will be happy to know that people play stuff on PC whatever that's worth

Yet PC sales dropped 30% in Q1.


"PC GPU Shipments Drop 35% Year-over-Year in Q4 2022: Report"




I'm not saying it's doom and gloom for PC, but its the PS5's time to shine.
 
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killatopak

Gold Member
F2P games are the biggest multiplayer games though and those are free multiplayer on console.

I wonder if Sony regrets that decision lol
I think in some way they do but as a consumer I like it.

Sony does get a cut on F2P games. Blizzard simply takes 100% of it on PC because of their own launcher. Similar probably to Epic with Fortnite on PC.

Couple that with games that are PC only like WoW and you can see how they profit more on PC.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Yet PC sales dropped 30% in Q1.


"PC GPU Shipments Drop 35% Year-over-Year in Q4 2022: Report"




I'm not saying it's doom and gloom for PC, but its the PS5's time to shine.
Mining dropped, GPU sales dropped, shocking news. Time for PS5 to shine mining coins.
 
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Tsaki

Member
Yet PC sales dropped 30% in Q1.


"PC GPU Shipments Drop 35% Year-over-Year in Q4 2022: Report"




I'm not saying it's doom and gloom for PC, but its the PS5's time to shine.
heh my comment wasn't to be taken seriously
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Kids are now after pcs more than ever. Consoles are more and more for us older generation but thanks to twitch etc these kids think that pc is the only legit place to play these big games like apex, warzone etc.

Consoles still do well and will always do well bit there is deffo a shift to pc with younger ages than before.
Lol zoomers don’t know how to use computers
 

killatopak

Gold Member
One thing to take account on PC compared to consoles is PC as a platform doesn't have a hard generational refresh like consoles do.
 
I think in some way they do but as a consumer I like it.

Sony does get a cut on F2P games. Blizzard simply takes 100% of it on PC because of their own launcher. Similar probably to Epic with Fortnite on PC.

Couple that with games that are PC only like WoW and you can see how they profit more on PC.
Oh yeah they still get the 30% store cut or whatever of anything purchased, but there is no PS Plus toll. Though, they give away as part of Plus a bunch of exclusive items for numerous F2P games to entice people to sub anyway.

Crazy to think at one time you had to have a XBL sub just to watch Netflix.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Oh yeah they still get the 30% store cut or whatever of anything purchased, but there is no PS Plus toll. Though, they give away as part of Plus a bunch of exclusive items for numerous F2P games to entice people to sub anyway.

Crazy to think at one time you had to have a XBL sub just to watch Netflix.
That was the stupidest timeline. Had to pay to watch Netflix on 360 and while you didn't have to pay on PS3 you couldn't watch Netflix on PS3 if PSN was down. I'm glad these companies took apps out from behind their networks.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Whats the sales numbers of COD on PC compared to PS and Xbox?
Same with games like Skyrim, Diablo, Fallout 4 etc
 
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