Microsoft Wants To Challenge Duopoly Of Apple And Google In Mobile Gaming

With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft wants to create the conditions for a successful expansion of its smartphone gaming activities in order to break the “duopoly” of Google and Apple in this area in the long term.

According to Phil Spencer, who has been in charge of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division for several years, Apple and Google have built up a kind of duopoly when it comes to the way games are used on mobile devices such as smartphones. His company wants to make this obsolete in the coming years, whereby he relies, among other things, on sensational takeovers such as in the case of Activision/Blizzard.

Microsoft wants to conquer the market for smartphone gaming

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Spencer explained that the main reason the Activision Blizzard purchase is about more “mobile engagement,” meaning reaching more users on mobile devices. In Spencer’s opinion, Apple and Google have too much control over how games can be consumed and, more importantly, purchased on mobile devices.

According to Spencer, the main obstacle to Microsoft’s success on mobile devices is the strict regulations of the two app stores from Google and Apple. The two groups would thus control the market and divide it among themselves, which is why the duopoly of the two stores on the most frequently used platforms would have to be broken. It is also about winning more customers and increasing monetization.

With Game Pass, Microsoft wants to change the way gaming is played on smartphones so that customers have more choices. However, Spencer also sees limited growth potential in terms of Xbox Game Pass revenue as a percentage of Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue. In his opinion, it should not be much more than the current 15 percent.

Apparently, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard isn’t just a way to compete even harder with Sony and Nintendo for the gaming console market, but also an attempt to make life harder for Google and Apple. The deal, for which Microsoft is paying around $69 billion, is currently being reviewed by various regulators, while some competitors are trying to do it to prevent all sorts of arguments.