Activision released its quarterly earnings reports yesterday, and along with an investor call, released some interesting information – like the fact that Bungie is hard at work already on the next game in the Destiny franchise.
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors that that Destiny‘s “next full game release” is being developed alongside “future expansion packs”.
Yes, there’s a wealth of expansion content coming to Destiny, but that doesn’t mean Activision doesn’t want even more of your money when the release the next core game in the Destiny franchise. Why wouldn’t they, when they have 9.5 million people playing the game – many who will be sucked in to a new one. Destiny has 9.5 million registered users, Activision says, and the active players play an average of three hours a day. World of Warcraft subscriptions are also up, from 6.8 million to 7.4 million. Destiny and world of Warcraft, together with the money people have spent on Hearthstone, have sent Activision-Blizzard’s profits through the roof.
On a GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices) basis, Activision’s sales increased from $691 million to $753 million, reducing losses from $0.05 per share to $0.03 per share. Using Non-GAAP – which is code for creative accounting – net revenues soar from from $657 million to a record $1.17 billion. That’s not bad for a single quarter. The next one should earn them some decent cash too, with Advanced Warfare now out of the gate.
“Our record third-quarter results were driven by Destiny, the biggest new videogame franchise launch of all time, as well as strong sales from Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, which now has over 20 million registered players1, and World of Warcraft, which saw a quarterly increase in subscribers to 7.41 million in anticipation of the upcoming Warlords of Draenor release,” said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. “We are raising our full-year non-GAAP outlook and we expect to deliver double-digit non-GAAP revenue growth year-over-year and record non-GAAP earnings per share.”
He continued, “In addition to new content releases of Skylanders Trap Team and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, next week Blizzard Entertainment plans to launch World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. Today, we have some of the most important franchises in entertainment and we expect to continue growing our product portfolio in 2015 with two additional franchises — Call of Duty Online, which we expect will enter an unlimited beta test, including virtual item sales, in China during the first quarter, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Heroes of the Storm. Looking ahead, we have more opportunities than ever before to fuel our growth by creating great content using new platforms and business models while also expanding into new geographies. We are embracing all of these growth opportunities with the same commitment to excellence that we have demonstrated over the past 23 years.”
Activision’s doing okay it seems. They’ve gone a long way in the last generation to not being the most hated publishers, trimming the fat from its release schedule and focusing instead on a few core properties.
Last Updated: November 5, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 5, 2014 at 10:07
tee hee @ non-GAAP definition. It’s true, it’s damn true.
Hammersteyn
November 5, 2014 at 10:10
The guardian to the right, on his left leg above the I of Destiny. Is that V? Or am I seeing things?
Reid
November 5, 2014 at 10:14
That’s the best hidden V yet. Well spotted
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 5, 2014 at 10:14
I think you’re right. I’m wondering if the explosion on the Earth is the British House of Parliament.
RinceThis
November 5, 2014 at 12:14
Of course it is, can’t you hear the howling?
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 5, 2014 at 12:52
Who’d howl if a bunch of politicians got blown to smithereens? Besides other politicians.
Thats_how_I_Troll
November 5, 2014 at 11:21
And above that, is that a face on the guys knee guard?
Mark Treloar
November 5, 2014 at 10:13
9.5 million registered users. But how many of them are still active?
Jonah Cash
November 5, 2014 at 10:52
Me, me pick me!!! And 3 hours per night sounds about right….
RinceThis
November 5, 2014 at 12:15
And Guild, also about 3.
Nikola
November 5, 2014 at 12:58
and me;)
Jonah Cash
November 5, 2014 at 13:51
What can I say, the man has good taste!!
OVG
November 5, 2014 at 10:16
I think by the time 2 comes out everybody will be up to their eyeballs in HALO lore.
The HALO hype train is going to totally change FPS gaming forever.
Jedi Consular Kromas
November 5, 2014 at 10:47
“…. totally change CONSOLE FPS gaming forever.” Fixed.
FoxOneZA
November 5, 2014 at 12:58
Believe the HYPE brotha!
Jonah Cash
November 5, 2014 at 10:53
Good news that they have so many sales, not happy to already hear about a second game on the way… But that is they way gaming is going it would seem!! Just make my two DLC’s as good or better than the core game now and I will stick around!!
Nikola
November 5, 2014 at 12:59
I am enjoying it big time and I know quite a few ppl that still do no matter what people are saying looking forward to the new expansions:)
Jonah Cash
November 5, 2014 at 13:50
Me too, can’t wait to see if they listened and can give us a bit better story missions… But it won’t matter really, I will be there!!
Weanerdog
November 5, 2014 at 11:06
SO they are still making a loss then.
And seriously non-GAAP so the spin is as follows, FD “Dude we still making a loss the shareholders are going to be pissed.”
CEO “What if double our sales figure”
FD “How?”
CEO ” Times it by 2″
FD “Well then obviously it looks good but you can’t do that”
CEO “Base it on sales that we are going to have based on IPs in the market, you know like that power company did”
FD “You know that is illegal? Guys went to jail”
CEO “We just publish it as our non-GAAP figures in addition to the actual audited figures”
FD “Done, hey nice profit I think we all need a bonus for releasing such good results.”
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 5, 2014 at 12:56
How did you get the minutes of my company’s board meeting?
Weanerdog
November 5, 2014 at 15:16
You own Activision! O_O
Decembermaloy
November 5, 2014 at 11:55
So, they’re not going to fix any issues in this release, promise that everything will be fixed in the next Destiny, then fail to deliver once again. Carrot meet stick…
Marcus
November 5, 2014 at 11:59
The amount of suck in this game is too damn high! Destiny 2… I think not. Biggest load of shit I’ve ever played.
Nikola
November 5, 2014 at 13:00
Brilliant game!!
Marcus
November 5, 2014 at 14:03
Insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Playing the same mission over and over does not make the game insane, it makes the players insane.
Sageville
November 5, 2014 at 13:00
Exaggerate much?
Marcus
November 5, 2014 at 14:04
Spending R700 on that game, I was being polite.
FoxOneZA
November 5, 2014 at 13:13
Few of buddies with a PS4 told me the same thing yesterday but no of them played Halo either.
vicky john
November 5, 2014 at 12:07
May be bungie planning to release destiny 2 including pc version. Think so.
Marius Nell
November 5, 2014 at 12:10
Aaaaand im done with the franchise. already a second but cant even fix the first one
RinceThis
November 5, 2014 at 12:13
Da money!
FoxOneZA
November 5, 2014 at 12:57
That’s a fair number of ponies that got suckered into buying Destiny.
Marcus
November 5, 2014 at 14:06
And I’m sad to say that I’m one of them. Stupid game. Back to playing BF4.
Nikola
November 5, 2014 at 13:04
Game has it’s issue’s not going to lie but I still play it daily log in do my daily mission, I think the game is brilliant and story will unfold as the game progresses that’s what most people really can’t grasp. Exited for new raid coming and new level gap and armor:) Gameplay is by far the best out of any shooter I have played and I played them all. It’s just a fun game if you play it with the right people and if you do co-op, single player is average and if you are in for a single player experience Destiny is not a game for u!!