A new report reveals just how lucrative Activision Blizzard’s various franchises have been in 2023 so far, including Call of Duty and various mobile titles. Activision Blizzard is considered to be one of the most powerful third-party publishers in the industry, thanks to franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. This large umbrella of powerful franchises has recently drawn the interest of Microsoft, which announced its plans to add Activision Blizzard to the Xbox brand in a massive buyout last year.
If it is successful, Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard would be one of the biggest business deals in gaming history, and it has thus drawn heavy scrutiny from industry regulators and casual observers alike. This deal hit a major speedbump after the UK's CMA elected to block the sale over concerns about Microsoft’s standing in cloud gaming. Activision Blizzard has since pledged to appeal this decision, even as company stocks begin to plummet in the wake of the setback. On the bright side, it looks like Activision Blizzard has at least made a hefty profit so far this year.
Activision Blizzard just released its latest earnings report, revealing that the company made $2.38 billion in revenue over the past three months with a profit of $740 million. In comparison, the mega-publisher pulled in $1.76 billion in revenue and $395 million in profit in the same period last year. Additionally, Activision Blizzard reportedly has $9.236 billion in cash and equivalents on hand. $580 million came from the Activision half of the company, while $443 million was brought in from Blizzard.
The primary breadwinner for Activision Blizzard in this report was King, the mobile company behind hit games like Candy Crush Saga and Rebel Riders. According to the latest report, King raked in $739 million over this quarter, resulting in mobile platforms being the number one source of revenue with $956 million in total. PC platforms fell into second place with $666 million in revenue, followed by consoles at $639 million. Digital platforms were also a massive boon for Activision Blizzard during this period, drawing in $2.157 billion in revenue. Physical retail brought the company $104 million, and the remaining $122 million has been categorized as “Other.”
When it comes to individual franchises, Call of Duty was naturally a big winner for Activision Blizzard, with overall sales jumping "significantly" from the same period last year thanks to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in October. Meanwhile, November’s World of Warcraft: Dragonflight reportedly boosted player counts to the highest levels Blizzard has seen for a modern World of Warcraft expansion. In terms of active users, Activision reported 98 million, Blizzard 27 million, and King 243 million, resulting in a grand total of 368 million.
Despite its recent setback with the Microsoft buyout, it seems that Activision Blizzard is continuing to be one of the most successful gaming publishers on the market, with its success bolstered by the evergreen Call of Duty franchise and the ever-expanding mobile game market. Only time will tell if these blockbuster profits will continue throughout 2023, especially given that the company is currently in the middle of a potentially game-changing business deal with Xbox.
Source: GameSpot