Activision Blizzard’s Net Revenues Down 15%, Engagement Reduced by Up to 22%

[Tsing]

While the publishing giant still manages to turn a profit, Activision Blizzard (and its subsidiaries) are experiencing a substantial downturn in both sales and engagement. According to its third quarter results, net revenues are down 15% to $1.28 billion, while Blizzard's are down 38% to $394 million (Candy Crush maker King only suffered a relatively minor 1% decrease). Engagement has also decreased, with Activision and Blizzard losing 22% and 11% of its monthly users, respectively.

Part of that shortfall can be attributed to a tough comparison to the year-ago quarter, back when Activision still counted Bungie's Destiny franchise among its offerings. (Bungie reclaimed publishing rights to the series in February.) And while Activision revenues were down sharply -- off 47% year-over-year to $209 million -- it was not the only division of the company to see sales slide.

 

[iissmart]

As much as I hate Blizzard for how they handled the Blitzchung controversy, I still want them to make great games. This doesn't bode well for Diablo IV, which will surely be lined with microtransactions as a revenue stream for the company.

 

[Uvilla]

Up next: mass layoffs, so next quarter will look better.

 

[Brian_B]

The new CoD will boost those back up for Q4

Letting go of Bungie stung I have no doubt. It was never a great fit in the first place and D2 should have been handled a lot better from the jump.

I bet Overwatch 2 has more riding on it than D4 will - since it ties directly into their E-Sports league. Wonder how long that will continue? They shouldn't have ignored OW1 while they were working on OW2.

WoW Classic didn't save them.

 

[Nanobot]

I don't think Classic was meant to save them; they were very reluctant to do it in the first place. What should be interesting is to see the numbers after Shadowlands comes out, as a lot of Classic players were already subbed. There's still the possibility that they move onto both BC and Wrath and if that happens I suspect many who didn't resub for Classic might be tempted to, especially by people who just won't sub for post-Wrath content. Classic is a slog, albeit a better mmo experience, compared to everything post-Wrath.