 Just as it's on the cusp of being acquired by Microsoft, Activision Blizzard admits active player numbers are down across the board. Following the news that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are giving it a few more months before they finalise their merger, the latter has shared its latest financial results for its second quarter, covering April through June. At a first glance, it seems the company has been doing very well for itself. The Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King segments have all seen growth in revenue, with Call Of Duty in particular driving an 80% increase in operating income compared to last year. However, while it's hardly struggling financially, player retention hasn't improved since April's update. Between March 31 and June 30, monthly active users across the board have dropped by a further 12 million to 356 million in total. This seems at odds with how Activision talks about how well Call Of Duty is doing, with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's third season of content described as the 'highest-grossing Modern Warfare 2 in-game season to date'. Activision boasts more than 90 million monthly active Call Of Duty players, which is certainly nothing to be sneezed at, but investors are bound to be raising eyebrows when the franchise had over 100 million players at the beginning of the year. No doubt Activision is banking on the mobile port of Call Of Duty: Warzone and this year's premium release, rumoured to be a Modern Warfare 3 reboot, to drum up player numbers again. This also doesn't take into account the recent surge of players that flocked to the older Xbox 360 titles, after Activision fixed their online matchmaking. While that's sure to be welcomed by the company, having a chunk of the player base choosing old games over the current ones isn't an entirely good look. Overwatch 2's situation is notably more dire as Activision acknowledges that player interes){kind=link}
Just as it’s on the cusp of being acquired by Microsoft, Activision Blizzard admits active player numbers are down across the board.
Following the news that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are giving it a few more months before they finalise their merger, the latter has shared its latest financial results for its second quarter, covering April through June.
At a first glance, it seems the company has been doing very well for itself. The Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King segments have all seen growth in revenue, with Call Of Duty in particular driving an 80% increase in operating income compared to last year.
However, while it’s hardly struggling financially, player retention hasn’t improved since April’s update. Between March 31 and June 30, monthly active users across the board have dropped by a further 12 million to 356 million in total.
This seems at odds with how Activision talks about how well Call Of Duty is doing, with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s third season of content described as the ‘highest-grossing Modern Warfare 2 in-game season to date’.