Daily Briefing: Wednesday 12th January

Xbox Series X|S has officially sold one million units in the UK

Thanks to a significant, and extremely overdue, increase in Xbox Series X stock in retailers across the UK, December 2021 saw the Xbox platform’s biggest sales month since it launched way back in November 2020. Despite widespread stock and component shortages across the industry, Microsoft maintain that the Xbox Series X|S are continuing to sell faster than any previous generation of Xbox console.

• According to new GfK data circulated by GamesIndustry.biz, around 560,000 console unites were sold during December in the UK. But, though the Xbox Series X did indeed succeed in setting a new platform sales record, it was the Nintendo Switch that took top spot. The PS5, which is just as out of stock and arguably more sought after, sits in third place with its second biggest sales month to date after its November 2020 launch. So, the hardware is out there, we just have to find it.

Mobile spending topped $116bn last year

That’s according to a new State of Mobile 2022 report from App Annie, which claims that consumer spending on mobile games reached nearly $120bn globally in 2021. That’s a marked increase of $42.22bn since the same reporting period in 2018. Also notable is the fact that total App Store spending was $170bn across all apps, meaning that games make up a sizeable chunk of overall consumer spending.

• In terms of which games are bringing in the most money, though you can probably take a pretty accurate guess, Roblox takes the top spot, followed by Genshin Impact and Coin Master. In terms of Monthly Active User (MAUs) metrics, PUBG Mobile takes prime position alongside Roblox and leaderboard mainstay Candy Crush Saga. Among Us is also worth a mention for having solid MAUs alongside Free Fire, while Pokémon GO sits just behind PUBG Mobile in terms of consumer spending. Money, y’all.

Lego postpone new Overwatch 2 set amid Activision Blizzard controversy

The legendary toymaker are just the latest high-profile corporate partner to reevaluate their relationship with Activision Blizzard in the midst of their ongoing sexual harassment and misconduct lawsuit maelstrom. The new Titan playset was originally supposed to launch on February 2nd, so in just a few weeks, but the release has now been indefinitely postponed as Lego are “currently reviewing” their partnership.

• While this will likely send another money-related message to Activision Blizzard’s upper management, it is incredibly late in the game for Lego to be making this sort of stand. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit that brought this whole mess into the public eye came out last summer, and the playset was due to release in just a couple of weeks. It’s a little late on all counts. It’s also pretty weird that a toy based on Overwatch 2 was set to release this year at all, given that the game itself likely won’t launch until 2023 at the earliest. It is based on the reveal trailer from BlizzCon a few years back, so maybe that’s enough of a money-making disconnect.