5 ms·

I’ll definitely push back on that. Apple and Google run the number one and number two biggest gaming platforms by revenue. Microsoft is the also-ran, that can’

I’ll definitely push back on that. Apple and Google run the number one and number two biggest gaming platforms by revenue. Microsoft is the also-ran, that can’t make more money than a hi-fi company who fell ass backwards into gaming.

simiones 2y ago
Running an app store is completely different than running a games publishing or even development business. Microsoft publishes and develops games, and it also runs some games platforms. Google and Apple are almost exclusively in the platform side. Also, calling Android and iOS "gaming platforms" is a bit of stretch. the majority of successful mobile games are significantly different from more traditional games. In fact, they are much closer in their revenue and even development models to the gambling industry, especially in that they almost exclusively make their money off of the addiction of a few gamblers they have the poor taste to call "whales", which they actively seek to nurture. So, I would say that the gaming sides of iOS and Android's app stores are much closer to an online casino than to a games distribution platform (like Steam, the MS and Sony and Nintendo stores, etc). Of course, this is not really to defend Microsoft, especially when the whole discussion is about a game every bit as scummy as the worse that mobile gaming has to offer.
itishappy 2y ago
By gaming revenue?
- WorldMaker 2y ago
  Very much so. Apple's App Store revenue for just games in an average year is estimated to be somewhere around $8.5 billion which can beat all of Microsoft's Xbox division, Sony's PlayStation division, and all of Nintendo combined. It was pointed out in multiple threads that gamers were worried about Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for too much control of videogames, but the real power and money maker that Microsoft was actually buying was always King. Mobile games are the real money makers and everything else is subsidized by that.
  - itishappy 2y ago
    Fascinating overview, thanks!
  - jsnell 2y ago
    Something is wrong with your numbers. PlayStation revenue is $29B/year. Xbox should be somewhere in the $15B/year range after the Activision purchase. Nintendo is $12B/year. Each of those alone is more than $8.5B, let along combined.
    - dialup_sounds 2y ago
      It looks like the $8.5B figure came from the Wall Street Journal, but: 1) it was profit, not revenue, 2) Apple disputed the margins, and 3) this was 2+ years ago using figures from 4+ years ago. https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-doesnt-make-videogames-but-its-the-hottest-player-in-gaming-11633147211?st=x3tad5ypqtit2gk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-doesnt-make-videogames-bu... Still... if that reporting is even in the ballpark it implies big gaming revenue for two companies that don't make any games.

simiones 2y ago

Running an app store is completely different than running a games publishing or even development business. Microsoft publishes and develops games, and it also runs some games platforms. Google and Apple are almost exclusively in the platform side. Also, calling Android and iOS "gaming platforms" is a bit of stretch. the majority of successful mobile games are significantly different from more traditional games. In fact, they are much closer in their revenue and even development models to the gambling industry, especially in that they almost exclusively make their money off of the addiction of a few gamblers they have the poor taste to call "whales", which they actively seek to nurture. So, I would say that the gaming sides of iOS and Android's app stores are much closer to an online casino than to a games distribution platform (like Steam, the MS and Sony and Nintendo stores, etc). Of course, this is not really to defend Microsoft, especially when the whole discussion is about a game every bit as scummy as the worse that mobile gaming has to offer.

itishappy 2y ago

By gaming revenue?

WorldMaker 2y ago
Very much so. Apple's App Store revenue for just games in an average year is estimated to be somewhere around $8.5 billion which can beat all of Microsoft's Xbox division, Sony's PlayStation division, and all of Nintendo combined. It was pointed out in multiple threads that gamers were worried about Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for too much control of videogames, but the real power and money maker that Microsoft was actually buying was always King. Mobile games are the real money makers and everything else is subsidized by that.
- itishappy 2y ago
  Fascinating overview, thanks!
- jsnell 2y ago
  Something is wrong with your numbers. PlayStation revenue is $29B/year. Xbox should be somewhere in the $15B/year range after the Activision purchase. Nintendo is $12B/year. Each of those alone is more than $8.5B, let along combined.
  - dialup_sounds 2y ago
    It looks like the $8.5B figure came from the Wall Street Journal, but: 1) it was profit, not revenue, 2) Apple disputed the margins, and 3) this was 2+ years ago using figures from 4+ years ago. https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-doesnt-make-videogames-but-its-the-hottest-player-in-gaming-11633147211?st=x3tad5ypqtit2gk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-doesnt-make-videogames-bu... Still... if that reporting is even in the ballpark it implies big gaming revenue for two companies that don't make any games.