EA is the most popular publisher on PlayStation and Xbox

EA accounted for more than 16% of monthly active users on the Xbox and PlayStation platforms, making it the top publisher for MAUs on those platforms for six months, according to data from Ampere Analysis.

Ampere Analysis, a data and analytics company, published the findings of its engagement tracking from September 2022 to January 2023, displaying the MAU share of the top seven publishers. According to statistics, EA owned more than 16% of the market share for monthly active users (MAUs) on Xbox and PlayStation platforms during the six-month span.

According to Ampere, users played FIFA 23 by EA on 35% of days in February, which is the highest user engagement of any game. Final Fantasy 14 came in second with user engagement on 31% of days, followed by Genshin Impact in third with 30%.

Although FIFA 23 was EA’s crowning achievement, its diverse portfolio, which also includes games like Apex Legends, Madden NFL 23, UFC 4, Need for Speed Hot, The Sims 4, and Battlefield 2042, should be credited with the company’s rising engagement. Activision Blizzard and Epic had battled for second position, but the release of Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warfare II helped Activision Blizzard claim second place with 14.9% in October.

This, however, was short-lived, and they fell back to third place on the list while Epic maintained a very consistent market share of over 12% of MAUs, ultimately taking second place in December. Final Fantasy 14 and Genshin Impact both have strong user engagement, but neither Square Enix nor miHoYo were included among the top publishers.

Microsoft and Sony remain in a close fight 

When it comes to first-party owners, Sony and Microsoft are practically neck and neck, with each company occasionally leading the other. In the past six months, Microsoft has maintained an MAU market share between 6% and 8%, without any major release except Hi-Fi Rush. When God of War: Ragnarok was released at the end of November, Sony momentarily overtook Microsoft. However, Microsoft came back in January to hold a consistent 7.7% of the MAU market share.

A report like this may have an effect on the regulatory decision on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which is expected to be made in the next few weeks. The UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority is proactively making pronouncements indicating it is less concerned that such a move would impair competition. The acquisition of Activision was recently approved by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), which found that there the transaction is unlikely to constrain the market for gaming services.

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