Activision Blizzard's quarterly revenue exceeded $2.2 billion, and the MAU of its games reached 435 million

Activision Blizzard has reported a record first quarter. In January-March 2021, the company earned $2.28 billion — more than in any other first quarter in the history of the publishing house. Call of Duty played an important role in this.

Main figures:

• During the reporting period, Activision Blizzard’s revenue increased by 27% compared to the first quarter of 2020;
• In-game receipts (In-Game Net Bookings) amounted to $1.3 billion. Growth in annual terms — 40.4%;
• The company’s net profit also increased by 23% year—on-year to $619 million.;
• 88% of Activision Blizzard’s earnings came from digital sales, which amounted to $2 billion;
• the total number of monthly active users in the publisher’s games is 435 million.

Activision Blizzard’s financial performance in the first quarters of 2020 and 2021
Activision Blizzard considers the multiplatform development model, which has recently been used in the Call of Duty franchise, to be the main driver of growth.

Recall that the games in this series are presented both on PC and on consoles and mobile devices. Moreover, some of them are fritupley, which allows you to attract even more users.

The company began to use this model in other large franchises. For example, the mobile Crash Bandicoot: On The Run! was released in March, and Diablo Immortal will be released by the end of the year. Activision Blizzard previously announced the development of a mobile game in the Warcraft universe.

Activision Metrics:

• The division’s revenue for the first quarter of 2021 reached $891 million. Growth in annual terms — 72%;
• the total MAU of Activision games is 150 million people. This is 47% more than in the first quarter of last year;
• The Call of Duty franchise continues to grow. The number of active players in it rose by 40% in annual terms, and engagement “grew even faster and reached a record level” (the publisher did not specify the exact figure);
• Sales of premium Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War turned out to be higher than usual for premium games at this time. All thanks to integration with the Call of Duty: Warzone frituplein;
• In a conversation with investors, the company added that since the release of Call of Duty: Mobile has collected 500 million downloads and $ 1 billion in revenue. This was facilitated by the launch of the title in China.

Activision’s financial performanceBlizzard Metrics:

• Blizzard earned $483 million during the reporting period — 7% more than a year ago;
• but the total MAU of the division’s games decreased by 16% and amounted to 27 million people;
• Blizzard managed to increase revenue mainly on the background of the success of games in the Warcraft universe. This was greatly facilitated by the addition of Shadowlands for World of Warcraft;
• The company confirmed that Diablo 2: Resurrected will be released before the end of the year. Now the remaster is in the early testing stage, and has already received “very positive reviews”.

Blizzard’s Financial PerformanceKing Indicators:

• The division’s revenue reached a record $609 million, an increase of 22% compared to the first quarter of 2020;
• as in the case of Blizzard, the total MAU of its games decreased by 5% to 258 million people;
• Candy Crush remains the most moneyed King franchise on the American market (its earnings are not disclosed);
• The recently released Crash Bandicoot: On The Run! attracted a lot of attention from the audience. Since its March debut, the game has been downloaded by 30 million people.

King’s financial performance”Our employees continue to demonstrate exceptional performance in difficult conditions,” said CEO Bobby Kotick.

“The relentless work with franchises resulted in strong first quarter results that far exceeded expectations.”

In addition, over the next two years, the publisher is going to hire 2,000 new employees.