Ekaterina Bespyatova

Activision Blizzard’s 2020 Report in Tweets and Charts

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Activision Blizzard shared last year’s financial results. The publisher’s revenue during this time exceeded $ 8 billion.  Half of this amount was brought by the Activision division. All thanks to Call of Duty.

Key figures:

  • in 2020, the publisher’s earnings jumped by 25% compared to the same period in 2019. After that, Activision Blizzard’s revenue managed to reach $8.08 billion for the first time in history.;
  • the publisher’s net profit also showed good growth. It increased by 46% in annual terms and amounted to $2.2 billion;
  • In-game receipts (In—Game Net Bookings) turned out to be $4.85 – more than half of Activision Blizzard’s total revenue;
  • 82% of the company’s revenue came from digital sales, which reached $6.66 billion.;
  • the total MAU of the publisher’s games was 397 million people.

Comparison of Activision Blizzard financial indicators in 2019 and 2020
As Activision Blizzard noted, the success of the Call of Duty franchise helped her to achieve such results in many ways.

It’s all about her development model. The authors of the series are preparing for gamers both paid titles and their freeplay branches (for example, Call of Duty: Warzone and mobile Call of Duty: Mobile).The developers have also launched a franchise on several platforms at once, where they are constantly adding new game content. The publisher is going to apply this model also within the framework of its other franchises.

According to analyst Mat Piscatella, the Call of Duty model is the best currently available on the market. In the future, it will be picked up by other game developers.

One of the steps to implement this model will be the release of mobile versions for all Activision Blizzard game series. As an example, the company has already announced that it has started working on a free mobile game in the Warcraft universe.

By the way, Call of Duty, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft in 2020 were the most profitable franchises of Activision Blizzard. Each of these series during the reporting period brought in more than $1 billion in net receipts (Net Bookings). The publisher hopes that two more franchises will join this list in the near future.

Activision Metrics

Activision’s financial performancethe division’s net revenue for 2020 reached $3,942 million (an annual growth of 78%)

  • the monthly number of active players was 128 million;
  • annual sales of premium parts of Call of Duty rose by 40%, mainly due to the “figure”. The next premium game in the series will be released at the end of 2021;
  • The last three months of 2020 were the best for Call of Duty: Mobile, largely due to the Chinese release of the title in December. As analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out, to date, Chinese gamers have downloaded the game 50 million times.

Blizzard Metrics

Blizzard’s Financial PerformanceLast year, Blizzard’s revenues reached $1.9 billion, an annual increase of 11%;

  • the total MAU of the division’s games amounted to 29 million users;
  • Released at the end of October 2020, the Shadowlands add-on turned out to be much more successful than any other add-on for World of Warcraft;
  • the softlonch of the mobile Diablo Immortal was successful. The official release of the title will take place during this year;
  • at the same time, the company has no launches in its plans for 2021 Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4.

King Indicators

King’s financial performanceIn the twelve months of last year, King earned $2.16 billion (an annual growth of 7%).

  • This is the best result for King since its acquisition by publisher Activision Blizzard;
  • monthly games of the division gathered an active audience of 240 million people;
  • Candy Crush has once again become the most moneyed mobile franchise in the American market;
  • Next month, the company plans to launch the Crash Bandicoot: On The Run title on the mobile platform!
    Against the background of the publication of the report, Activision Blizzard shares rose from $92 to $100 apiece.

These papers have never been sold so expensively before.

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