Digital claims 76% of Activision revenue despite WoW subscriber slide

Activision has posted revenues ahead of its forecasts, with digital accounting for a record percentage of its business.

GAPP revenues climbed from $1.11bn last year to $1.28bn for the year ending March. On a non-GAAP basis, however, revenue was down from $772m last year to $703m this time.

Digital GAAP records set a new record for the publisher, climbing to $581m and accounting for 45 per cent of the quarterly total. Non-GAAP digital revenues hit $538, or 76 per cent.

Subscriber numbers for World of Warcraft are sharply down, though, falling by 2.9m to 7.1m in the last quarter. These numbers were apparently offset by price increases and strong user digital purchases.

The publisher has revealed that Destiny and Hearthstone have 50m registered players between them, and with Hearthstone earlier this week reported as having 30m that also gives us a number for Destiny. The pair have also generated nearly $1bn in revenue between them.

Sales numbers for Call of Duty were not revealed, although digital revenues are up on a per-user basis. The company also said that Skylanders continues to lead the global toys-to-life category as the world’s number one children’s console franchise.

Our talented teams around the world continue to create experiences that inspire our audiences,” CEO Bobby Kotick said. In the last 12 months, we had over 150m active users around the world who played our games for more than 12bn hours and spectators who watched over a billion hours of linear programming based on our games.

In the past year, Activision Blizzard’s communities grew by more than 25 per cent. This deepening level of engagement with a widening base of players across our franchises is what drove another successful quarter.”