UPDATE
Do YOU play Minecraft on the Switch? Or do you play it on one of the other systems out there? Let us know below!
ORIGINAL STORY
When you’re the best-selling game of all time, you know you’re doing something right. Minecraft may not have seemed like the game that would be the one to top the charts, but it found a way through great gameplay, an ever-growing community, and the great decision to go to literally every platform possible. You could get the game on PC, console, handhelds when they were out, and even on phones! Many games fear going to that many systems because of the work it takes to balance them all. But in its case, it worked in its favor in spades. But due to this “wide reach,” certain questions have been asked.
The biggest being, “Where does the game make the most money?” You might think that since Microsoft owns the game outright but allowed it to go to other systems, it would be the Xbox Series X or One that would stand out on top, but you’d be wrong. In fact, as noted by Xbox gaming chief financial officer Tim Stuart, the Nintendo Switch is where Minecraft makes the most bang for its buck.
The revelation came from the ongoing FTC case between Microsoft and Sony over the former’s desired acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Stuart was there and noted that not only was the Switch where the game made the most money, but the Xbox systems were also making the least! To that end, the Sony systems were making double what the Xbox brand was.
You might wonder, “Why was this brought up in the FTC case?” The answer is that Microsoft is trying to convince the judge that they aren’t going to put certain Activision Blizzard brands solely under the Xbox banner simply because it wouldn’t be financially viable for them. Sony has been saying to anyone that listens that IPs like Call of Duty are in danger of this acquisition because it would go from being on “most systems” to only being on one, which would heavily restrict the market. They even countered Microsoft’s offer to bring the games to Nintendo systems for the next decade by saying their team can’t really do that.
But by saying their most profitable first-party game is only profitable in large part to being on other systems, it does make the case that they “need” to keep things multi-platform to survive. They have also admitted that they’ve lost the console wars basically every time, so they need this acquisition to grow in a meaningful way.
We’ll have to wait and see if their admittance wins them favor.
