On February 9, Activision Blizzard summed up the financial results of last year. The company has received record revenues in its history. However, due to taxes, it went into negative territory at the end of the final – Christmas – quarter.
Results of the 4th quarter of 2017
In terms of revenue, the quarter ended on a record for a gaming conglomerate consisting of three relatively independent gaming companies – Activision, Blizzard and King. The company earned $2.04 billion. Most of the funds came from subscriptions, micropayments and royalties.
But the company has no profit at the end of October-December. During this period, it lost $584 million. Taxes turned out to be the main item of expenditure. Activision Blizzard paid $769 million to the US government. For comparison, a year earlier this amount was $46 million.
The latter may be related to the Republicans’ tax reform that came into force at the end of December. It has established a one-time tax on the income of American companies abroad when they are transferred to the United States. An incentive to their possible transfer from the outside Activision Blizzard could be the definition of a minimum income tax for American companies from abroad and a significant reduction in corporate tax in the United States as a whole.
If you do not take into account the increase in the tax expense item, the fourth fiscal quarter for Activision Blizzard turned out to be very successful. For the fourth time in a row, the company earned more than $1 billion on in-game sales alone. For the 17th consecutive quarter, Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga remained in the top ten highest-grossing mobile games in the USA. User spending on games Candy Crush has also been growing steadily in the last months of the year.
Financial results of the 4th quarter of 2017/2017 and comparison with previous results 2017 results
Activision Blizzard’s annual revenues totaled $7.02 billion. This is $400 million more than the company earned a year earlier. And this is a record revenue for the company. In contrast to the profit, which amounted to $273 million (a year earlier it was almost a billion). The reason for the fall is the results of the fourth quarter.
Judging by the company’s statement, the main successes this year were associated with Activision. The revenue growth occurred against the background of the recognition of the shooter Call of Duty: WWII as the highest-grossing console game of the year in the world by the analytical companies NPD Group, GfK and GSD. Recall, according to SuperData, the digital sales of the project alone amounted to $502 million. An additional growth factor was Destiny 2, another shooter division, which the company calls the second best-selling console game in the States for 2017.
For Blizzard and its projects, the year was a record in financial terms among the years without new releases. However, the total MAU of the division’s projects experienced a drop in the last months of the year. It was also significantly less than Activision’s projects – 40 million versus 55 million in the last quarter.
King’s micropayment revenues last year were also the highest in the company’s history. However, Candy Crush remains the main and only franchise of this division.
By the end of next year, the company plans to earn even more. But the forecast does not increase the figure significantly (within the company, of course). By December 31, 2018, Activision Blizzard plans to receive $7.3 billion. $280 million more than in the past.
Also on the topic:
- Activision Blizzard’s quarterly earnings beat company expectationsActivision Blizzard completed the purchase of King and became the “largest gaming network in the world”
- Activision Blizzard earned $2 billion in three months
- A source: