Blizzard: Growing numbers, light at the end of the tunnel?

Ah Blizzard… Blizzard… After a particularly difficult year 2021 and a start to 2022 filled with turns and above all disasters, the Californian studio behind some of the biggest games in its space seems to be collapsing. This third trimester is a beast. But can we talk about the return (if any) of one of the most respected video game studios of its time?

Uptrend: The good news of summer

We learned the news in Activision Blizzard’s Q2 2022 Financial Results Report: Monthly active player counts are higher than Q1 of this year. Excellent news, surprising especially given the situation in which the company seems to have sunk… After revelations last summer about its disastrous handling of harassment and discrimination, Blizzard is now only a shadow of herself. The eyes of many ex-fans… and not only! Confidence is gone, and while some think it will be hard to rebuild, the studio’s old legendary licensing image and some pretty nifty technical moves seem to have worked in their favor in the second quarter.

With 27 million active players (across all games), Blizzard is experiencing a surge in interest at a rather poor time in its history, given the glaring lack of truly interesting content that its players have been enjoying for so long. of his games. Of course, while the company is far from the all-time high of 46 million active users in the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 5 million users over the previous quarter, an increase of almost 23%, resumes furiously ground !

Raison ? It’s pretty obvious, albeit unofficial: Diablo Immortal, a mobile game from the Diablo license that was released on June 2. Inevitably, and despite the “bad buzz” it experienced at launch, it largely contributed to establishing the company’s credibility in the eyes of investors. However, its release in China has been delayed, and it is easy to imagine that the number of players expected was undoubtedly much higher than the launch, many of whom were expected on the Chinese side.

The data for other games from the studio are not really imagined. World of Warcraft (Retail as Classic) seems to be stagnating at a fairly low player level, which is explained by the fact that the two existing expansions (Shadowlands and Burning Crusade Classic) are at the end of their life and players are on a quest . forward for more. Hearthstone didn’t even receive a development announcement this quarter, despite the expansion rolling out. In the heart of the Sunken City in April, Diablo largely wears Diablo: Immortal without much surprise, and Overwatch is far, far away at the moment. All these beautiful people, we timidly see the tip of the nose on the horizon, although the second opus of the bachelor is coming soon.

A very busy end of the year

But especially at the start of the school year, the publisher will play big, especially since the distribution of Diablo: Immortal could arrive in China at the same time (enough to create possible delays in distribution. Other games are scheduled at the same time ).

The promises are endless for the coming months, and while some key features like the WotLK Classic and Dragonflight expansions for WoW or Diablo IV are a resounding success, other expected releases may not meet the expectations of gamers like Editor. But for now, one thing seems clear: the coming months are very promising for Blizzard, and the numbers for the next two quarters will be incredibly higher than those we’ve seen since 2021.

September 2022

Opening naturally on September 27, WoW will be the long-awaited expansion to Wrath of the Lich King Classic. If its predecessor failed to convince its fans, we already know that almost all the actors of the classic have been waiting for this second sequel for a long time with strong support. The numbers can be increased, but even if we never expect the absolute peak of the number of players in WoW, reached at the end of the original expansion in October 2010: 12 million!

October 2022

On October 4, Blizzard’s big FPS return is already announced with its second opus: Overwatch 2! Its open beta at the beginning of the summer brought together a fairly impressive number of players, and if some seem rather mixed, we can expect a dazzling return of this license to the front of the stage in the coming weeks. Why Simply because it must be free, unlike its predecessor which must be purchased to access it. A big difference that could benefit Blizzard and drastically increase the number of active players on Blizzard when it is released!

until the end of 2022

The content will not be outdone until the end of the year, and World of Warcraft will once again be in the spotlight. Although we don’t yet know the official release date, the Dragonflight expansion is scheduled for December 31 at the latest. The ninth expansion for Blizzard’s MMORPG introduces a surprising number of new features that many players can embrace. Community listening seems to be the high point of “Team 2” for almost a year, and the arrival of a hundred new developers dedicated solely to this expansion (and WoW worldwide) could heralding a new era for those celebrating the second decade well. . .

The last quarter of the year will also be the time for Blizzard to release Warcraft: Arclight Rumble, a “Clash of Clans-style” mobile game based on the Warcraft universe. Again, we don’t know the official release date, but there is no doubt that it will attract a significant number of players as it is also supposed to be a free game.

current year 2023

Last but not least, 2023 is shaping up to be huge in terms of announcements and news. In addition to the many major updates planned for its various games, Blizzard is already planning to release the highly anticipated Diablo IV, 10 years after the third opus. Given the runaway success of the series and the insatiable expectations of gamers over the years, it’s a safe bet that the company is playing big with Hack’n’Slash.

And yet… that’s not all. Released in early 2022, Blizzard’s new “survival game” could be in the news as early as next year. We don’t know just about everything about it, and it’s a safe bet that the publisher wants to provide some information to its players to make them salivate a little about this new type of game development it has. has never been discovered before. Who knows, maybe BlizzCon 2023, with Microsoft taking over the studio 5 months in advance, will surprise us after more than two years of flagrant absence? Or maybe not at all…