Activision Blizzard: The numbers are tight… Will a Microsoft takeover work?

It was during the Activision Blizzard conference call. Second quarter financial results 2022 from Activision, Blizzard and also King released. With some long-awaited big drops in sight, it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is finally showing for Activision and Blizzard with a seemingly promising second half. But will that be enough for you to become controlled by Microsoft again in June 2023?

Some figures for Activision Blizzard King

• Revenue for the second quarter of 2022 was $1.64 billion, compared to $2.30 billion for the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Revenue this quarter fell approximately 28.7% year-over-year
• Activision has 94 million monthly users
• Blizzard has 27 million monthly users
• King has 240 million monthly users
• Diablo IV will be released on PC and consoles in 2023
• Wrath of the Lich King Classic will be released on PC on September 27, 2022.
• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is set to release in late 2022
• Overwatch 2 will be released on October 5, 2022.
• Blizzard’s revenue fell this quarter compared to last year, but is higher than last quarter
• The development team dedicated to World of Warcraft has grown considerably with the acquisition of Proletariat Inc.
• Warcraft: Arclight Rumble is being tested in some parts of the world
• Last June, King acquired Peltarion to broaden its understanding and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning and serve its players more effectively with more engaging content.

what you need to remember

• Activision Blizzard King’s revenue fell from the prior quarter and fell sharply from the same period in 2021.
• Compared to the previous quarter, we are seeing a decrease in monthly player counts for the Activision and King series. Blizzard, meanwhile, has seen massive growth and is rare enough to be featured.
• While revenues have fallen drastically for several quarters, Activision and Blizzard expect numbers to rise in the coming months for several highly anticipated titles, including Modern Warfare II, Wrath of the Lich King Classic, Dragonflight and Overwatch 2.
• Warzone will soon be moving to mobile with new content slated for the current release in early 2023 and beyond.
• King continues to grow and continues to generate more revenue and engagement from the gaming community
• Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King has been approved by ABK and Microsoft’s shareholders and board of directors and is expected to close on June 30, 2023.

call of Duty

• The number of monthly users of the Call of Duty series decreased compared to the previous quarter (from 94 million in 2Q to 100 million in 1Q).
• Activision hopes to relaunch Modern Warfare II on October 29, 2022 to increase their numbers as it is the most popular game in the series to date.
• “Warzone 2.0” is planned as an expansion of the Modern Warfare universe later this year.
• Activision Studios continues to work on an “innovative” mobile game to expand Warzone’s impact on these platforms
• Content slated for Warzone in early 2023, but beyond

World of Warcraft

• World of Warcraft has a lot of content planned for the second half of 2022
• Wrath of the Lich King Classic will be released in Europe on September 27, 2022.
• Dragonflight expansion will be released later this year
• Blizzard is committed to increasing its development resources to not only meet the expectations of the World of Warcraft gaming community, but to exceed them.
• Proletariat Inc. The acquisition of the studio has significantly strengthened the WoW development team and will help Blizzard achieve its goals for its MMORPG.
• World of Warcraft revenue (retail and classic) has declined year over year after the same period since the release of Burning Crusade Classic on June 1, 2021.

Satan

• Diablo: Immortal Scores Very High on Mobile Game Shopping Apps Worldwide
• Diablo: Immortal has been the most downloaded game in more than 100 countries and regions around the world since its launch.
• More than half of the accounts used to log in to Diablo: Immortal were created just to play the game
• Diablo IV will come in 2023
• Diablo IV is planned to support “crossplay”, but its progress is also shared across all platforms
• “New and interesting” content is planned for “many years” after the release of Diablo IV, which has already been designated as a “service game”.

Monitor 2

• Overwatch 2 Early Access Launches October 4, 2022
• Overwatch 2 wants to be a “free game”
• Seasonal updates are planned with frequent updates

King

• King’s total revenue increased 6% year over year.
• Candy Crush is by far King’s most profitable and successful franchise
• The frequency of new content releases continues to increase and new PvP features are planned for Candy Crush soon to further encourage participation from the gaming community.
• Time spent on Candy Crush has increased dramatically year over year (let’s talk about double digit increases)
• Advertising revenue increased significantly by approximately 20% compared to the same period last year
• In June 2022, King acquired Peltarion to accelerate the understanding and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to better serve its players with fun and engaging content.