Even with Activision Blizzard, Microsoft wouldn’t top this list of 5 gaming giants

The European Union and United Kingdom are divided on regulatory approval of Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The U.K.’s main concern is that the deal would give the Xbox maker too much control in the gaming arena. But this merger still wouldn’t give Microsoft the highest revenue in the industry. Here are the biggest gaming companies in this week’s Five for Friday.

5: Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard’s $7.5 billion in revenue in 2022 was enough to make it the world’s fifth largest gaming player. Last year, it had the highest selling mobile game with Candy Crush Saga and the biggest selling console game in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Its back catalog of games — in the Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk and Crash Bandicoot series — are enough to get Microsoft’s attention. That doesn’t even account for the hugely successful World of Warcraft.

But the company has faced a culture problem with California suing over a “frat boy” environment following claims of sexual harassment. Unfortunately, it’s not the only gaming company that has faced legal issues due to its handling of the workplace.

4: Nintendo

Japan’s Nintendo was founded in 1889, making Japanese playing cards at the time. It’s now a nostalgia-driven gaming behemoth that made $12 billion in revenue last year on the back of a unique brand of games. Mario, Zelda and Pokemon continue to be blockbuster franchises.

Nintendo also got grandma off the couch to play Wii bowling in the mid-2000s. There are even studies that show it can prevent dementia. Its latest console, the Nintendo Switch, has been a huge hit, selling 125 million units, making it the third best selling console of all time.

3: Microsoft

The $16.2 billion Microsoft made from gaming in fiscal year 2022 is just 8% of its overall business. Activision Blizzard would be the company’s biggest acquisition ever, which is pretty significant considering it has faced criticism dating back decades for being too big.

The Windows maker spent billions of dollars in recent years to buy ZeniMax media, the publisher of hits in the Doom and Elder Scrolls series, and Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft. All of this is to bolster its cloud gaming offering, which has been the biggest issue for regulators in the Activision Blizzard takeover talks.

2: Tencent

China’s Tencent is one of the biggest entertainment conglomerates on the planet. The company’s gaming division brought in more than $24 billion in 2022 and that’s only 31% of its total revenue.

Tencent has a stake in many major players in gaming, the most significant of which has been League of Legends maker Riot Games and Fortnite developer Epic Games. The first quarter of 2023 saw more growth in the gaming sector as it makes a play to be the most dominant player in the space.

1: Sony

Japan’s Sony will still be No. 1 with $26.5 billion in annual gaming revenue even if Microsoft is able to close the deal with Activision. But the PlayStation maker is still doing its best to stop its rival’s acquisition.

Sony’s first foray into gaming was a partnership with Nintendo to make what was essentially the SNES-CD. The partnership fell apart and the tech eventually became the first PlayStation. While it’s onto pushing the PS5, the PlayStation 2 is the best selling console of all time.