How do WoW, Diablo Immortal and Co. fare? Financial Report Q2 2022
Activision Blizzard officials have released the first post-launch financial report for Diablo Immortal. Has the mobile MMO already catapulted the number of players and sales to unimagined heights? And what about upcoming projects like Diablo 4?
Since the ongoing takeover by Microsoft, those responsible at Activision Blizzard have dispensed with the “conference call” that has been common for a long time, but it was still there recently for the second quarter of 2022 an informative financial report. What is particularly exciting is how the launch of Diablo Immortal could affect the number of players and sales. In the following we have summarized the most important things for you.
Findings around the Blizzard universes
- Even though Diablo Immortal only came out in June (the last month of the quarter), the mobile MMO has a significant impact on at least one number in the report. Blizzard was able to increase the number of monthly active players from 22 to 27 million. More than half (!) of Diablo Immortal players are said to have held a Blizzard game in their hands for the first time.
- Otherwise one seems to be satisfied with Diablo Immortal. The high ratings in the mobile app stores are emphasized (the criticism on other platforms and websites is concealed) as well as the high positions in the download charts of more than 100 countries.
- Diablo 4 is slated for release in 2023 for PC and consoles. The Hack&Slay is designed to support crossplay and cross-progression across all platforms. Furthermore, the “live service” character of the game is emphasized. Diablo 4 will be expanded with new content over many years.
- Several major releases are planned for later this year with WotLK Classic, WoW: Dragonflight and Overwatch 2. In order to meet the expectations of the players, the developer resources have been significantly increased, especially in the WoW area.
- Public tests for the mobile game Warcraft: Arclight Rumble are in preparation for several regions.
- Despite Diablo Immortal and a good quarter at Hearthstone, sales and earnings are lower than in the second quarter of last year ($401 million versus $401 million in sales). WoW performs significantly worse in comparison, which is no wonder. Burning Crusade Classic was released in the corresponding quarter of last year.
How is Activision Blizzard doing otherwise?
- The number of developers increased by 25 percent compared to last year. An important factor for this was of course the takeover of Proletariat in June 2022.
- Net revenue of $1.64 billion was significantly lower than the second quarter of 2021 ($2.3 billion).
- The main reasons for this are the weak results from the “Call of Duty” front (even if you could increase the numbers compared to the 1st quarter) and the current product cycle at Blizzard (many important releases are still pending).
- Compared to Q1 2022, the number of monthly active players has fallen from 100 million to 94 million.
- Activision Blizzard has high hopes for the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in October and the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 later in 2022.
- The King (Candy Crush) games were able to generate more sales and profits compared to the previous year. However, the number of monthly players fell from 250 to 240 million in comparison.
Reference-www.buffed.de