Activision Blizzard Reports Q3 2022 Earnings - Call of Duty MW2 & Overwatch 2 Were Big Contibutors
Activision Blizzard reported their Q3 2022 earnings today with top line revenue coming in at $1.78B (down from $2.07B from last year) and net income (profit) of $435m (down form $639m). Weaker results this quarter were due to the timing of their biggest release, Modern Warfare II which launched on October 27 (which is in Q4).
Highlights for Activision:
Strong performance from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. The game set a new record becoming the fastest CoD game to reach $1B in sales. Sales on PC are 2x past CoD games and playtime in the first 10 days over 40% of the prior franchise record.
Warzone 2.0 is set to launch on November 16th as well which should further boost engagement with the franchise.
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is set to launch sometime in 2023 and will be powered by the same engine behind Modern Warefare II and Warzone 2.0. It will feature shared social features and progression between console and PC as well.
Highlights for Blizzard:
Overwatch 2 reached over 35 million players in its first month. Average daily players are 2x higher than the original overwatch game at launch. This isn't exactly a fair comparison, but it still shows strong engagement. The PvE mode is scheduled to launch sometime in 2023.
World of Warcraft revenues and engagement remained steady. The next expansion for retail WoW is Dragonflight which launches on November 28.
Warcraft: Arclight Rumble, the first mobile Warcraft game, is currently in beta testing.
Dibalo Immortal had a very strong launch in China in July and quicly became one of the highest grossing mobile games in that market.
Diablo IV is expected to launch in 2023 and work is 'well ahead' of schedule.
Highlights for King:
Revenue for King increased 6% year over year thanks to the continued success of the Candy Crush franchise.
Activision's MAU should jump next quarter due to the success of MW2. Dragonflight will boost Blizzard too.
Microsoft remains commited to completing the purchase of Activision Blizzard sometime in 2023 provided they get all regulatory approvals to do so. Given recent announcements and concerns regarding Call of Duty's potential exclusivity, this is far from a 'done deal' as regulators may not approve the merger on anti-trust grounds.
Further Reading: Q3 2022 Earnings Announcement
