Activision
CompanyUnited States
Documents about Activision
Diablo Immortal and Candy Crush Were Biggest Contributors to Activision Blizzard’s Mobile Growth in Q3
Activision Blizzard’s financial performance in the third quarter of 2022 was defined by a significant shift toward mobile gaming, which accounted for 52.3% of the company’s total revenue.
- Mobile gaming became Activision Blizzard’s primary revenue driver in Q3 2022, accounting for 52.3% of total revenue with $932 million in earnings.
- Mobile revenue grew 14% year-over-year, providing a critical buffer against significant declines in the PC and console segments, which fell 37% and 36% respectively.
- Candy Crush Saga remained the company’s top-grossing mobile title, generating $316.8 million during the quarter.
Activision Blizzard Q3 2022 Financial Results
Activision Blizzard’s financial results for the third quarter of 2022 reveal a period of contraction, characterized by a 31.9% decline in net income to $435 million and a 13.9% decrease in total net revenue to $1.78 billion.
- Activision Blizzard reported a 13.9% decline in total net revenue to $1.78 billion and a 31.9% drop in net income to $435 million for Q3 2022.
- The Activision segment experienced a 25.1% revenue decline, primarily driven by reduced player engagement following the poor reception of Call of Duty: Vanguard.
- Digital channels remain the company's core revenue driver, accounting for 90% of total earnings, while traditional physical game sales fell by 45.3% year-over-year.
Calling BS on Xbox Game Pass Profitability
This analysis challenges claims made by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer regarding the profitability of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
- Microsoft’s claim that Game Pass is profitable and accounts for 15 percent of Xbox content and services revenue is likely strategic posturing to influence antitrust regulators during the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
- The $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard contradicts Microsoft’s narrative that the console market has reached saturation, as the deal is intended to bolster content for the same service.
- The analysis argues that Game Pass profitability is mathematically improbable when accounting for the combined costs of hardware, bandwidth, studio operations, distribution, and engineering.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Generates Over $1 Billion in 10 Days
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II achieved a significant commercial milestone by generating over $1 billion in worldwide sell-through revenue within its first 10 days of release.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II generated over $1 billion in worldwide sell-through revenue within its first 10 days following its October 28, 2022, release.
- The title set a new franchise record by reaching the $1 billion threshold five days faster than the previous record-holder, Black Ops II.
- Initial engagement metrics for the 10-day launch period included over 200 million hours of gameplay and more than 1 billion completed multiplayer matches.
Activision Touts Sell-Through Success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Activision Blizzard reported significant commercial success for the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which generated over $800 million in worldwide sell-through revenue within its first three days of release.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II generated over $800 million in worldwide sell-through revenue within its first three days of release.
- The game achieved the biggest opening in the franchise's history, surpassing the previous five-day record of $775 million set by Modern Warfare 3 in 2011.
- Modern Warfare II set a new franchise record for the highest-grossing digital opening weekend.
New Games' Biggest Discovery Competition? Old Games
The primary thesis of this analysis is that "evergreen" legacy titles represent the most significant competition for new video game releases on PC and console platforms.
- Legacy titles are the primary competitors for new releases, with the top 20 established games receiving 50% more reviews than the top 20 new launches on Steam in October 2022.
- When excluding the outlier Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, older games outperformed new releases by 225% in player engagement metrics.
- The competitive gap widens as the sample size increases; when comparing the top 40 games, legacy titles outperformed new releases by 258%.
Games Industry M&A Report: 2022
The global games industry experienced a significant period of consolidation and investment during the first nine months of 2022, characterized by 976 announced or closed deals.
- The games industry saw 976 deals totaling at least $123 billion in the first nine months of 2022, driven by a strong appetite for expansion across mobile, PC, console, and esports.
- Mergers and acquisitions dominated the market with $101.6 billion in value, anchored by Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the largest transaction in industry history.
- Other major acquisitions included Take-Two’s $12.6 billion purchase of Zynga, Unity’s $4.4 billion merger with ironSource, and Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie.
Call of Duty: Online Is Dead. Long Live Call of Duty: Online!
Call of Duty: Online functioned as a strategic bridge between Western console-based design and the high-velocity, free-to-play market of China.
- Call of Duty: Online served as a strategic development bootcamp for Activision and Tencent to master free-to-play mechanics, seasonal content cadences, and robust onboarding.
- The technical infrastructure and asset libraries developed for the Chinese market project directly enabled the global scalability and success of Call of Duty: Mobile.
- The project functioned as an innovation hub that pioneered foundational features for the modern franchise, including cross-mode progression and early Battle Royale iterations.
VR Looks Expensive: Zuckerberg's King of the Hill Moment
This analysis explores the shifting landscape of the European games market and the strategic maneuvers of major tech entities like Microsoft and Meta.
- The European games market accounts for only 17% of global consumer spending, significantly trailing Asia’s 57% share.
- European developers rely on domestic markets for 42% of their revenue, leaving them vulnerable to foreign acquisitions by firms like Tencent and Netflix.
- Asian firms have successfully localized their revenue, increasing regional earnings from 47% to 78% as Chinese and South Korean audiences expanded.
Game Pass Generated Nearly $3 Billion in 2021: Brazil
Regulatory filings submitted to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) have provided rare insight into the financial performance of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
- In 2021, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass generated approximately $2.9 billion in revenue from console subscriptions.
- Game Pass console subscriptions accounted for 18% of Microsoft’s total $16.28 billion gaming revenue in 2021.
- Excluding hardware sales, Game Pass revenue represented nearly 30% of the $12.58 billion generated by Microsoft’s games and services division.
Microsoft thinks Activision Blizzard deal will provide devs with “better revenue and fair marketplace rules”
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is framed by the company as a transformative move intended to benefit the broader gaming ecosystem, including players, developers, and the industry at large.
- Microsoft is pursuing a $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, positioning the deal as a means to increase competition through improved developer revenue models and equitable marketplace rules.
- The merger faces significant regulatory scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and European Union regulators due to concerns regarding potential anti-competitive impacts.
- Microsoft intends to leverage its app store principles to challenge dominant mobile storefronts and expand the availability of gaming titles across console and mobile platforms.
Deconstructing Mythical Games with CEO John Lindon
Mythical Games operates as a dual-purpose entity within the blockchain gaming sector, functioning simultaneously as a game developer and a provider of infrastructure technology.
- Mythical Games has raised over $250 million in venture funding, positioning itself as one of the most well-capitalized startups in the blockchain gaming sector.
- The company is building a platform to provide off-the-shelf tools for blockchain integration, inventory management, token support, and marketplace operations, aiming to solve the technical complexities developers face when adding blockchain layers to games.
- Mythical Games is led by a veteran team of former Activision executives, including CEO John Lindon, who previously founded Seismic Games and worked on major franchises like Call of Duty and Skylanders.
Its games in the library
Halo: Combat EvolvedBungie · 200112
Call of DutyInfinity Ward · 2003560- Overwatch154
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Sledgehammer Games · 20117
Halo 3Bungie · 20074- Call of Duty: Black Ops 625
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 714
- Halo: Campaign Evolved3
Grand Theft Auto VIRockstar North · 2026175
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2Infinity Ward · 20099