While the gaming industry at large has certainly proliferated over the past decade or so, no other gaming niche has expanded quite as substantially as mobile gaming has. With a remarkably low cost of entry and often equally remarkably aggressive microtransaction schemes, it lends itself to exceedingly high profit margins, especially in the case of Activision Blizzard.

As most gamers will know, Activision Blizzard owns the Candy Crush IP, which is one of the most popular mobile games of all time. Whether due to its simple subject matter or its engaging gameplay loop, Candy Crush has been a huge source of profit for the publisher, and the company's quarterly earnings report for Q2 2022 shows that it far outpaces its PC and console offerings.

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Activision Blizzard acquired Candy Crush developer King in 2016, which is likely to have been one of its most profitable business decisions of all time. According to the publisher's latest earnings report, its mobile games have generated $831 million in profit in Q2 2022 alone, which makes up 51% of its total earnings for that period. Candy Crush alone made $684 million, though Call of Duty Mobile is almost certain to be the second-highest earner. In comparison, Activision Blizzard's console titles earned $376 million, while PC releases earned $332 million in total.

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While this piece of information isn't surprising on its own, it does put mobile gaming's potential profitability in stark contrast with the remainder of the industry. It is, of course, also worth pointing out that the company's next quarterly earnings report is bound to be even more impressive thanks to the new Diablo game. After all, Diablo Immortal made over $100 million in just a few weeks after its release, and that's on mobile phones alone.

If it wasn't clear why Microsoft was eager to acquire Activision Blizzard, this earnings report ought to explain it. Despite all the controversies the publisher has found itself in over the last couple of years, the simple truth is that the company is still massively profitable and that this trend isn't likely to wane anytime soon. This is underlined further by the conclusion of the report, where Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said that he expects even better profit growth in the long term.

Curiously, Kotick previously said that he'd like to see an Xbox-funded Candy Crush game with social features, which would be an interesting project to see in practice. Whether that ends up happening or not, Microsoft is bound to be interested in exploring the publisher's various profitable IPs once the acquisition is finalized, and mobile gaming is assuredly going to be a major element of any future developments in this regard.

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Source: Activision Blizzard Q2 2022 Quarterly Report