In December 2024, Microsoft achieved impressive financial results in the gaming segment. According to analytics company Ampere, the tech giant’s revenue amounted to $465 million, largely due to the success of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The latter saw over 4 million players, even without a PS5 release.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – A Major Success
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 showed exceptional performance, attracting 38 million monthly active players. Notably, 64% of Microsoft’s game sales came from PlayStation users, confirming the success of the multi-platform distribution strategy.
EA’s Impressive Revenue and Free-to-Play Leaders
Electronic Arts came in second place in terms of revenue with $366 million, driven by the success of the new football simulator, EA Sports FC 25. Meanwhile, Fortnite led the free-to-play segment, with gamers spending a total of 30 million hours in the game on Christmas Day. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 also showed high engagement with 20 million hours of play.
Chinese Publishers Strengthen Their Position
Chinese publishers have significantly strengthened their position in the global market. Path of Exile 2, published by Tencent, earned $148 million through early access and in-game purchases. Marvel Rivals by NetEase attracted 29 million monthly players, while Infinity Nikki by Papergames and Delta Force by Tencent had successful launches.
Market Dynamics and Console Sales
The growing influence of Chinese publishers is creating new dynamics in the console and PC games market, intensifying competition in an already tense industry. Despite this success in publishing, sales of Xbox Series consoles are lagging behind the previous generation. However, as Circana analyst Matt Piscatella notes, the decline in console sales is observed across all manufacturers. 2024 was a less successful year for the gaming hardware market compared to 2023.
