Activision Blizzard has released their Q1 earning report this week with some surprisingly high stats. The gaming giant, responsible for hit titles such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, had a very successful first quarter earning 1.73 billion over three months. The findings were a surprise to Activision Blizzard, who only estimated 1.55 billion for the quarter.
The same quarter of last year only brought 1.45 billion for Activision Blizzard, bringing in this year’s quarter with a 19% increase. What’s more interesting is that a whopping 80% of the revenue is from digital downloads this year. Last year the company reported that only 64% was digital.
“30 million players globally” play Overwatch
Overwatch is the game to thank for these increases Activision Blizzard reveals. Chief Executive Bobby Kotick released a prepared statement touting “30 million players globally” for Overwatch alone. Having played Overwatch frequently and watched the growing fan base, it’s no surprise to me that Activision Blizzard’s earnings have increased.
Microtransactions for “loot boxes” in Overwatch provide skins, emotes, and other flavor options, enticing players to spend real money in order to customize a favorite hero. Couple that with the purchasing of cards in Hearthstone and I’d be very interested in seeing the total profit for those microtransactions alone.
Coming from someone who used to play Magic: The Gathering, I can’t begin to tell you how much money can go down the drain on purchasing cards for a collectible card game. That being said, Hearthstone is no different. I luckily bowed out before I got in too deep, but the game is a blast and purchasing cards is, unfortunately, a must at times.
Hearthstone and Overwatch are both stated as being Activision Blizzard’s 7th and 8th “billion-dollar franchises,” and it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Activision Blizzard’s pockets are loaded. With the company’s new full-year expectations being 88 cents a share on sales of 6.1 billion, I’m sure they couldn’t be happier. Stay tuned for news on Activision Blizzard’s upcoming titles: Destiny 2, and Call of Duty: WWII, coming out later this year.
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