Record Activision-Blizzard financials exceed expectations

The newly formed Activision-Blizzard has announced its financial results for its fiscal Q1 2009, ending June 30th 2008, which show record net revenues of $650 million – far in excess of the firm’s $500 million prediction.

The publisher noted the strong performance of film license Kung Fu Panda and the record setting performance in the US of both DS title Guitar Hero: On Tour and the console-based Guitar Hero: Aerosmith as key contributors to the result.

The results do not take into account costs associated with the completion of the merger between Activision and Blizzard, which occurred after the close of the fiscal quarter.

"Activision’s first quarter stand-alone net revenues and earnings were the highest ever for a non-holiday quarter," Activision Blizzard president and CEO Robert Kotick stated. "Our significant overperformance in Q1 would have further added to our previously given stand-alone fiscal 2009 net revenues and earnings outlook, making it by far the largest and most profitable year in Activision’s history.

As we have recently closed our transaction with Vivendi Games, we will be providing an outlook for Activision Blizzard as a combined company moving forward.

"We are extremely excited about the additional possibilities created by the completion of our combination with Vivendi Games last week and remain very optimistic about the long-term opportunities. Both Activision and Blizzard Entertainment’s businesses have maintained their momentum and Activision Blizzard is well positioned to exceed the financial goals set for the combined company."

The financial release also notes that the costs of providing online play for its increasing number of internet-enabled titles in the coming year will be ‘more-than-inconsequential’, but adds that it will not be charging gamers for online access to such services.