When it comes to the smartphone business, Microsoft could have been a contender. Windows Mobile was the operating system on many popular pre-iPhone handsets like the Motorola Q. It also ran some post-iPhone touchscreen models like the HTC Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro, and the HTC HD2 to name a few.
Microsoft wants to build an Xbox mobile app store
Microsoft does have ownership of a vast amount of intellectual property related to Android and it made much more money each year with the success of Google’s mobile operating system than it did having ownership of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Windows Phone.
Microsoft’s history of gaming revenue graph
The report names two popular video games, Activision’s Call of Duty: Mobile and King’s Candy Crush Saga that Microsoft could use to help it build a mobile app storefront that could compete with the Play Store and App Store. Microsoft, noting the popularity of mobile games and the revenue it drives of in-app purchases, sees Apple and Google making a fortune and wants a piece of the action.
Discussing the proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft explains to the CMA that “The transaction gives Microsoft a meaningful presence in mobile gaming. Mobile gaming revenues from the King division and titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile, as well as ancillary revenue, represented more than half of Activision Blizzard’s … revenues in the first half of 2022.”
Becoming a valid challenger in mobile apps is Microsoft’s goal
The CMA happens to be focused on how Microsoft’s proposed acquisition would impact the console market. The smallest tier of the industry, the purchase would represent a larger chunk of this market which could make the regulatory agency concerned enough to block the deal. Microsoft would prefer that the CMA look at how a possible purchase of Activision Blizzard would be a small drop in the mobile gaming market.
