Xbox is on track to knock Sony PlayStation down to third place for the first time in history | Windows – Buy Aussie News

What you need to know

Microsoft and Sony have long been intense rivals in the high-end console gaming market, with Sony typically out in the forefront by almost every metric.
Despite Xbox’s console market share woes, Microsoft has found a ton of success by expanding across to PC and doubling down on services.
Now that Microsoft has acquired Activision-Blizzard (the makers of Call of Duty), Microsoft may be on course to leapfrog Sony’s gaming revenues for the first time in history.
Tencent remains the top dog by a mile, owing to investments in companies like Epic Games, domination in China, mobile titles, and ownership of League of Legends’ Riot.

Microsoft has long touted its goal to become top dog in the gaming industry, while also stating that its eyes are on players like Apple and Tencent rather than PlayStation and Nintendo in order to achieve those goals. Indeed, the top player in the industry is indeed Tencent. The Chinese tech giant has massive investments in companies like Epic Games with Fortnite, as well as a dominant position in service PC and mobile games in both Western and Eastern markets in general. Apple, despite making no games or gaming hardware of its own, has also long been comfortably ahead of Microsoft, owing to massive taxes it imposes on developers in its iOS app stores. The landscape is rapidly changing, however.

Analysis firm Newzoo recently released a detailed report (via @superhys) into the games industry for H1 2023, revealing a familiar top 10 lineup. Newzoo projects that the games industry will generate $184 billion in revenue for the entirety of 2023 fiscal, and they forecast that it’ll grow to $205.7 billion by 2026. The lion’s share of gaming revenue remains in mobile, although PC and console did see growth, while browser-based games continue their freefall decline. Mobile gaming also saw a small decline, but remains 49% of…