While we were discussing this morning that Bobby Kotick (Activision) had asked Microsoft for a larger share of the revenue generated by Call of Duty, it also seems that Xbox is poised to review its share of other games as well. .
Xbox is willing to lower its revenue share on certain games
Typically, when a game is sold in a store, the revenue generated is split as follows: 70% goes to the publisher/developer, while 30% goes to the store where it is sold. It’s an “established” split in the industry, but Microsoft is willing to ditch its 10 percent stake in some cases.
As reported by The Verge, the FTC attorney accidentally mentioned an 80 percent split when interviewing Xbox Vice President Sarah Bond.
The latter then confirmed that Microsoft would indeed accept a lower revenue share “if we believe it is imperative to maintain that content”.
We won’t know more about the “content” in question, but assume that very popular games that bring many players to the Xbox platform are on the list of exceptions to the 70/30 rule.
The current hearing between the FTC and Microsoft on the Activision Blizzard acquisition continues today and should tell us more about the little secrets and other deals in the industry.