The PC has been written off several times as a gaming medium, but current sales figures, at least for Activision Blizzard, show that the platform is more popular than ever.
The PC is still smiled at a little as a gaming platform. Sure, it’s significantly more powerful than a console, but it’s also a lot more expensive and consoles are just more convenient. The downfall of the PC as a gaming platform has often been predicted, but current sales figures currently show the exact opposite: the PC is overtaking the consoles.
At least that’s the case with Activision Blizzard. According to the latest financial report, the publisher made a whopping $27 million more in sales on the PC than on the consoles combined. A whopping $ 666 million was achieved for PC compared to 639 million on consoles. A trend that could already be observed throughout the second half of 2022.
This is quite remarkable, because in the last 20 years or so, consoles have consistently been ahead, despite strong PC brands such as Overwatch or World of WarCraft. The PC has now been ahead for three quarters. Activision Blizzard even recorded a 74 percent increase in sales compared to the same period last year. The reason for this is the success of Call of Duty and Overwatch 2, but also increased income from World of WarCraft: Dragonflight and Diablo Immortal.
The trend towards the PC has been observed at least at Activision Blizzard for several years. The console sales lead has steadily shrunk over the years, and 2023 could be the first year in which PC leads overall. Admittedly still behind the mobile sector, which is still dominated by Candy Crush & Co. and represents the main cash filler for the publisher.
In a new developer video, Blizzard talks at length about the five classes, the character system, the Paragon boards and many other customizations for unique characters.
