It’s time to take stock for one of the largest firms in the industry, which is revealing dizzying profits, but below expectations.
As Microsoft prepares to get its hands on it, Activision shares its results for the first quarter of the year. The company generates no less than 1.77 billion dollars in turnoverwhere she gathered 2.28 billion a year earlier. A drop, of course, but results that still ensure the sustainability of the box.
It’s going average for Activision…
This decline, Activision there must mainly because of Call of Duty Vanguard which failed to boost its sales. Although there are no exact figures, the company admits that the app sold less than Black Ops Cold War. Moreover, the number of users has generally fallen for Activision and Blizzard, while King operates a small recovery.
Attendance Q1 2022 vs Q4 2021
- Activision recorded 100 million monthly players in the 1st quarter of 2022, i.e. a decrease of 7 million compared to Q4 2021. Over the last twelve months, Acti recognizes an average of 372 million users, compared to 435 million a year earlier.
- Blizzard recorded 22 million monthly users, a decrease of 2 million.
- King, on the other hand, is doing better than in Q4 2021 with 250 million active players on its applications.
On the revenue side, the main branches of Activision do the heavy lifting. The publisher also informs us that digital sales represent no less than 90% of revenues while physical sales are around 5%. The rest are the sidelines, like the eSports scene of Call of Duty and Overwatch for example.
Q1 2022 revenues
- Activision: turnover of $453 million for $59 million in net profits.
- Blizzard: CA of $265 million for $53 million in net profits.
- King: Turnover of $682 million for $243 million in net profits.
… but not for long
However, if there is indeed an overall drop in turnover and attendance for the first quarter of 2022, it shouldn’t last. Among the “new” costs, several factors come into play, including legal bills due to the takeover by Microsoft and ongoing cases.
In addition, on the Call of Duty side, the number of users has drastically increased recently, thanks to the launch of season 3 on Vanguard and Warzone, and the announcement of Modern Warfare 2, as reported in particular by Virgin (via CGV). And this figure should only swell as Modern Warfare 2 is unveiled, not to mention the arrival of Godzilla and King Kong in Warzone.
Blizzard, meanwhile, can count on Diablo Immortal, planned for iOS, Android and PC, as well as the new World of Warcraft extension to fill its coffers.
