With numbers like that, I think it’s fair to say that no matter how loudly people shout, microtransactions aren’t going anywhere.
Yesterday, during an earnings call for the third quarter of 2019, Activision Blizzard announced that microtransactions in their games are are bringing in all kinds of cash for the publisher. Thing is, while that’s still an amount of money that most of us could only dream of seeing in our lives, it turns out that it’s much lower than previous years. According to their Q3 sales call last year, Activision Blizzard’s microtransaction money has dropped by $323 million from the reported $1.032 billion it brought in last year within the same time frame.
Activision Blizzard cited Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 as being the biggest earned for them in terms of microtransactions, with the sale of in-game items growing sharply in comparison to Call of Duty: World War 2, which released a year before Black Ops 4. A possible reason why sales were so down in relation to last year is Activision’s loss of Destiny which released it’s post successful expansion Forsaken in roughly the same time frame last year. Destiny has many in-game items that can only be purchased through microtransactions and given the huge success of Destiny 2, I don’t doubt that the loss of that franchise did a number to their earnings.
That being said, Activision can probably look forward to a spike in their earnings in Q4 following the critical and commercial success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that should only bring in more cash over time as the game is set to receive its first battle pass in December as well as separate microtransactions that will be made available to players.
Beyond Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard no doubt benefitted from the truckload of cash Candy Crush still brings in while World of Warcraft Classic no doubt assisted in boosting their revenue in Q3. While revenue is clearly down from last year, it seems that the company are still pulling in enough to be sitting pretty comfortably and with announcements for games like Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 under their belt, I suspect Activision Blizzard will be fairly comfortable for the foreseeable future.
Last Updated: November 8, 2019
Dresden
November 8, 2019 at 15:23
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Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 15:23
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Yozzie
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
I wish I had a squirt bottle to use on every one of these “gamers”
Gustav Willem Diedericks
November 8, 2019 at 19:26
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Dresden
November 8, 2019 at 15:23
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Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 15:23
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Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
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Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
So like. Does it bother anyone else that this is so unrealistic. If I tried to do that now my PC would crash into the bottom of my desk, shit would come crashing all over the place, the monitor would pull itself down out of my hands, and the satisfaction would be anything but guaranteed…
Raptor Rants
November 8, 2019 at 18:45
that’s only because you screw your cables in to place. n00b. You leave the cables unscrewed to allow ease of detaching and throwing
Raptor Rants
November 8, 2019 at 18:45
that’s only because you screw your cables in to place. n00b. You leave the cables unscrewed to allow ease of detaching and throwing
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
So you’re saying I’m screwed?
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
So you’re saying I’m screwed?
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
So you’re saying I’m screwed?
Raptor Rants
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
Askuus!?
Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
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Yozzie
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
I wish I had a squirt bottle to use on every one of these “gamers”
Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 18:45
squirt bottle filled with pepper spray.
Yozzie
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
Put down that VISA!
Bad gamer!
Bad!
Squirts
tsssssssssttt!
Yozzie
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
Put down that VISA!
Bad gamer!
Bad!
Squirts
tsssssssssttt!
Yozzie
November 8, 2019 at 23:41
Put down that VISA!
Bad gamer!
Bad!
Squirts
tsssssssssttt!
Dresden
November 9, 2019 at 00:33
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Pariah
November 9, 2019 at 06:34
You what would be really horrible with that? A mixture of cat piss with rotten fish inside. Let’s see those shits wash THAT smell out.
Pariah
November 9, 2019 at 02:04
No love for Mastercard… tsk tsk.
Kromas
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
Good for them.
Llama In The Rift
November 8, 2019 at 15:24
Atleast its going down and not up…One can only hope more gamers wake the F up and realize they’re the product and not the customer.
Gustav Willem Diedericks
November 8, 2019 at 19:26
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Son of Banana Jim
November 10, 2019 at 15:06
That’s a lot of suckers…. ?