Activision Blizzard Earnings Decline

Since we’re suddenly very interested in this company, Activision Blizzard earned a net income of $564 million on revenues of $2.16 billion for the quarter ending December 31. Those revenues represent a drop of 11.6 percent year-over-year (YOY) as the firm’s monthly average users (MAUs) fell from 397 million to 371 million.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our teams for their commitment and passion as we continued to engage the world through epic entertainment in 2021,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who inexplicably still has a job, said. “As we look to the future, with Microsoft’s scale and resources, we will be better equipped to grow existing franchises, launch new potential franchises, and unlock the rich library of games we have assembled over 40 years. Our 370 million players around the world and workplace excellence remain our focus. For investors, our recently announced transaction is the culmination of three decades of providing superior shareholder returns.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The lukewarm reaction to the latest Call of Duty title, Vanguard, played a big role in Activision Blizzard’s decline: the franchise earned revenues of $2.49 billion in the quarter, down from $3.05 billion in the year-ago quarter, when it shipped Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The company admitted that the World War II-themed Vanguard delivered “lower than expected performance.”

Last month, Microsoft announced that it would purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, potentially saving the firm from Kotick and his toxic internal culture, and with promises to revive classic game franchises from the past. That deal is currently undergoing regulatory scrutiny, but it is expected to pass without compromise by mid-2023.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 6 comments

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    04 February, 2022 - 9:25 am

    <p>The problem is that Call of Duty is tired. It needs a hiatus. It has been chasing other titles and it has not been fresh for years. This is a global problem with most publishers trying to keep on churning out tiles. If this is what PlayStation has done better and I hope Microsoft get right with their own internal studios is infusing the creativity back in to the games. It might be iterative, but each title is refine and adds some freshness. Look at the buggy mess that ships these days, just to keep the date. </p>

    • Donte

      04 February, 2022 - 4:53 pm

      <p>It was really tired…so tired. Then they released MW 2019, which I still play the MP version of it because it’s that good. From that spawned Warzone which was the hottest game for a while.</p><p><br></p><p>Then they let whatever teams release Cold War on the old engine and it was bad….then Vanguard which uses the MW 2019 engine but is just stale.</p><p><br></p><p>They need a break, but I am hearing the next one might drop in October because Vanguard was such a failure, MW2 using the MW 2019 engine, tweaked and tuned.</p><p><br></p><p>Games are so rushed these days, none of them are bug free and hardly anything is new IP, just rehashed versions of old games. BF 2042 was a disaster and won’t be fixed for a while if ever. Even Halo had crazy MP levels of loot achievement which have been tweaked multiple times and now the next update is delayed.</p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    04 February, 2022 - 10:25 am

    <p>He didn’t use the word "leverage". That is enough for me.</p>

  • Jogy

    Premium Member
    04 February, 2022 - 3:12 pm

    <p>&gt; <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who inexplicably still has a job</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">+1</span></p>

  • trparky

    06 February, 2022 - 12:08 pm

    <p>When you piss off the fan base causing hundreds of thousands of people to cancel with WoW subscriptions, don’t be surprised when your earnings decline.</p>

    • trparky

      06 February, 2022 - 12:09 pm

      <p>Their*</p><p><br></p><p>Damn auto correct.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC