Activision Is Making More Money On PC Than Consoles For the First Time

According to Activision Blizzard's latest financial report, the video game company's 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," reports PC Gamer. From the report: Between January 1 and March 31, Activision made $666 million on PC versus $639 on console. Its PC segment also outsold its console business throughout half of last year, though console did outsell PC overall for Activision in 2022. This is a notable change: As far back as far as I can look at Activision's publicly available financial reports, console has always been king. This was the case in the early 2000s at the peak of Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero, in the 2010s when Call of Duty was on the rise, and even after Activision bought Blizzard in 2008 (WoW subscriptions were still big, but not Call of Duty big).

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). 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).

Zoom out on Activision's numbers, and you can see the PC is gaining ground in Activision's yearly reports, too. Last year, the company recorded the smallest gap between console and PC revenue in recent history: just $100 million. That's several hundred million less than 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017. If the year goes on like this, 2023 could be the year that the PC becomes Activision's second-biggest platform behind mobile (Candy Crush continues to crush).

diablo 4?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how much that is affected by the presale of Diablo 4 which is hugely popular on the PC gaming side.

Re:

[Can'tNot]

I am sorely disappointed to hear this, after Diablo 3. People never learn? People never learn.

The long awaited death of consoles?

[_xeno_]

The death of home consoles has been predicted for ages now, maybe the chip shortage has finally gotten us to the point where it's happening.

With everyone carrying around a portable computer that rivals last-gen consoles and current-gen consoles being pretty much unavailable, you have to wonder if people are getting used to the idea of doing their gaming on their phones and their tablets and their laptops.

Microsoft clearly thinks it's coming, given what they've said about the Series S/X and their cloud gaming plans.

Personally, I'm not entirely sold on that idea, but on the other hand, I haven't played any games on a "real" console in years - the only console I'm still using is the Switch.

Re: The long awaited death of consoles?

[Anonymouse Cowtard]

What happened to gaming in the cloud, is that still a coming thing? I want my games console to be a Raspberry Pi Zero running Kodi. Hmmmm, maybe that's why... They want to keep you on the upgrade merry go round.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

Most of those services were flashes in the pan but you can do it locally with Steam pretty well. It's about the only way I can see how things will continue to work with GPUs getting more power hungry and getting the point where they will need a dedicated circuit.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Most of those services were flashes in the pan but you can do it locally with Steam pretty well. It's about the only way I can see how things will continue to work with GPUs getting more power hungry and getting the point where they will need a dedicated circuit.

SteamLink sucks. Big time. Anyone who's tried streaming services like xCloud can tell you that much. There is literally more latency using SteamLink than you get with xCloud.

There is a lot of voodoo going on with streaming services to hide a lot of

Re:

[rogoshen1]

i've had really good luck with using moonlight on a cheapo celeron pc running ubuntu, streaming from a desktop over my LAN. (using both geforce experience, and now sunshine). 4k works without a hitch over ethernet, wifi is a bit shaky though.

I'm on starlink, so i'm sure WAN streaming would be a shitshow.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

Interesting, my PC is hardwired and it'd done ok streaming to a laptop on wifi but I haven't played anything like an FPS that would be particularly sensitive to latency.

Re:

[DamnOregonian]

Na, Steam Link is fucking fantastic.
Your home network sucks.

If your LAN is introducing more latency than communication to the internet, that's 100% on you. If I had to guess, I'd say you've got your Steam Link connected via wireless, and they've got quite old wireless chipsets in them. Mine is connected to GbE and happy as a clam.

Of course, it could also be that your GPU sucks or something. I suppose the latency could be on the encoding/sending side, as well.
Either way, your complaint is not represent

Re:

[nazrhyn]

I have no mod points, so I just want to confirm this. Steam Link is amazing, though I think that my poor little Steam Link box might be getting old in the tooth.

Re:

[DamnOregonian]

Ya, I'll be sad when my box dies on account of them no longer selling them.
My TV includes SteamLink now, and it works great minus one area- bluetooth peripherals can be a bit weird with it... but I think that's on the TV manufacturer to fix.... which means it probably never will be.

I hope they decide to make an updated version of the actual SteamLink box at some point.

Re:

[UnknownSoldier]

> you have to wonder if people are getting used to the idea of doing their gaming on their phones

Considering mobile gaming is a $142 Billion [www.data.ai] industry while PC is "only" $42 Billion I don't think we have to wonder. Also, current gen high-end phones are more powerful then last-gen systems such as the PS4.

> I haven't played any games on a "real" console in years - the only console I'm still using is the Switch.

Not sure why you call the Switch not a "real" console? Sure it is under powered compared to c

Re:

[Ormy]

parents like the idea of having their kids with a dedicated machine that doesn't take up as much space and keeps them off the family PC, so consoles won't be going away anytime soon.

Consoles will never be replaced by desktop PCs, you're right on that point. But I think consoles (or at least a substantial portion of their market share) will be eaten up by cloud gaming over the next 5-10 years. Kids will still have a dedicated box for their games, very low (or even zero) upfront hardware cost since all the heavy lifting is done remotely (i.e. in the cloud). Instead there will be a tiered monthly subscription where a higher tier gives you access to more games for free or more powerful

Re:

[quintessencesluglord]

I think it's more the distinction between console and PC are diminished to where short of exclusives, why would you handicap yourself with a console?

The gaming appliance of consoles having complete games, being able to trade games, etc. have gone away as publishers got greedy. It was the poorman's entry to computer gaming.

Now you have way more selection for a slightly higher initial cost (especially used) going PC, and with cheaper games if you wait for sales.

What's the value proposition of consoles again?

Re: The long awaited death of consoles?

[e3m4n]

That you dont have to drop $2500 to play on one.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

Yeah it was always the 'value way to PC game', plus couch multiplayer which seems to have fallen out of favor except for Nintendo. I'd always preferred PC gaming but stretched my budget by getting an Xbox 360 between refreshes and an Xbox One S between another. Them taking the optical out and the Xbox Series X being impossible to find plus the GPU shortage left me in a conundrum last time but I managed to get a decent deal on an MSI prebuilt from Costco of all places, which felt weird after not having bou

Re:

[e3m4n]

I personally dont Xbox simply because I would PC game in that particular case. But for some it is a entry level gaming PC. I do have a PS5, original nintendo switch, and a PS4 slim. The ps4 is just to keep the kids off the PS5, esp when they were so rare the risk of breaking it and not able to replace was a thing. The PSVR2 is pretty freaking cool and still cheaper than some VR rigs for the PC. Playing GrandTurismo 5 on the VR is pretty unreal. Even still limited to the sense controller versus a proper whe

Re:

[self-inflicted]

> couch multiplayer which seems to have fallen out of favor except for Nintendo

I've been playing couch co-op with my partner exclusively on PC for at least 6 years, probably longer. There has been an explosion of titles available in this space recently, particularly on Steam.

--
We will soon have the option to harvest our farts, so we can post & comment on stats about them.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

That's good to know, I haven't really looked for PC couch MP games. Do you use the steam link app on the TV or do you have your PC in the family/theater room?

Re:

[self-inflicted]

We have had a mid-level gaming PC hooked up to our living room TV for a really long time, since before smart TVs or things like the Chromecast existed. We have used the Chromecast and a smart TV somewhat, but the full PC experience is just so much snappier in responsiveness - and gives you so many more options for what you can do - that it's going to remain our preferred choice for the foreseeable future.

For couch multiplayer, a few years ago we just started hooking game controllers up to it. It's ma

Re:

[quintessencesluglord]

Quick perusal puts a new entry gaming PC at $600 to $1000, and used for far less while an entry PS5 is $500.

$2500 cost more than my last 3 PCs COMBINED.

What was your point again?

Re:

[e3m4n]

look up recommended specs of most PC games... you aren't getting an RTX2060 or higher out of a $600 PC. The graphics cards alone, to game well on PC, will put you much higher in cost. Sure you can play some old ass steam games but I can play those on Ubuntu for that matter. If you are trying to play something like call of duty and actually want to play its going to take more resources. Those gamers dont screw with wifi latency, they use wired ethernet. They are running $1000 graphics cards on machines with

Value proposition is more about handhelds

[tepples]

short of exclusives, why would you handicap yourself with a console? [...] What's the value proposition of consoles again?

Nintendo exclusives still have huge fan bases. And until very recently, when Steam Deck became generally available, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch were the most convenient ways to play games in genres that benefit from physical buttons while outside home.

Re: The long awaited death of consoles?

[e3m4n]

Im not so sure. Home consoles come in at 20% the cost of a gaming rig and generally run 60% quieter. For some quiet machines in the living space where your biggest tv is has value. For others, building or buying a rig that costs $2200 or more is way outside the cost of a $500 console. The cost of a high end video card alone exceeds a console. The RTX 3070 comes in around $600 while the flagship RTX 4090 will set you back $1600 just for the card. Unless your single with no kids, its hard to justify unless y

AMD integrated graphics

[tepples]

The cost of a high end video card alone exceeds a console.

True. However, you don't need a high-end GPU for an experience rivaling that of consoles. Just anything that isn't Intel.

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series contain an AMD CPU with integrated graphics. PS4 and Xbox One in particular had a pair of AMD "Jaguar" 5150 64-bit processors, and the 5150 was AMD's laptop chip at the time. This means you can skip the NVIDIA GPU scalpers and buy a PC with AMD integrated graphics, and you'll still get more exclusives than any PlayStation or Xbox con

Phones don't come with a gamepad

[tepples]

With everyone carrying around a portable computer that rivals last-gen consoles

It'll probably be harder to get everyone to carry around an input device with buttons for this portable computer. Not all games translate easily to the point-and-click style best suited to a phone's flat sheet of glass.

So make StarCraft 3 already.

[LindleyF]

We live for the swarm!

Simplify to Monefy

[GlimmervoidG]

Well this can't be. Better dumb down all future PC releases, so they can be released on consoles too. In fact... Let's then also dump down the console releases so they can be released on mobile in turn. We'll calling the moneyfall model.

Not hard to predict

[McFortner]

They have changed their business model from pay to own games to FTP Pay-2-Win games.

Fatter whales on PC

[UMichEE]

Despite Activision/Blizzard being such a big company, the truth is that they actually make very few games. Putting aside the mobile stuff (this is a PC vs. console discussion after all), the last non-Call of Duty games from the company were Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 remakes in 2021 and Overwatch 2 last year. It's therefore likely that most of Activision/Blizzard's revenue for this quarter is from microtransactions. PC gamers are richer and older and more likely to be the "whales" that the industry harpoon

It's not the first time?

[Tyr07]

It's not a prediction of anything. They made a lot of money on the PC side for a long time, and while they were the new hotness on consoles for awhile, introducing people into games that didn't usually get like COD, they experienced a large boom. As people really found they liked that genre, some of those people moved to PC for faster load times, better modding options, a mouse etc, in lieu of a more locked down and controlled experience for those games.

Console still 1000% have their place for games that ar