Record Overwatch growth drives Activision Blizzard numbers

A 58 per cent jump in revenue at Blizzard has played a big part in Activision beating analyst expectations for the last quarter.

Blizzard revenues for the period reached $441m, although that doesn’t quite match revenues from the company’s biggest contributor, King, which hit $475m. Activision generated $215m.

Both Blizzard and King boasted operating income of $166m, with Activision reaching $24m. King currently has 342m MAUs.

Console account for $615m of total revenue and PC $566m, with mobile and ‘other’ reaching $70m.

The best news arguably came from Overwatch, however, which saw monthly active players jump 58 per cent to 41m. Most notably it has now become the eighth Blizzard game to generate $1bn in revenue, becoming the studio’s fastest growing game ever in the process and hitting 30m registered players.

In-game spend in the shooter is up 25 per cent, too, as players scramble to secure the time-limited event-themed loot boxes.

In fact, it was Overwatch that drew particular praise from Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick.

"This quarter we delivered record revenues, earnings per share and cash flow, and over-performed guidance,” he said. Among the drivers of our results was Overwatch.

The Overwatch League is gaining momentum and we’re excited to offer our community of players the best professional league experience. Destiny 2 and Call of Duty: WWII are also coming later this year, and both reveals have been very well received by fans."

Hearthstone, too, has seen registered players climb to 70m. The card game also set a new all-time daily active user record with the release of its latest expansion Journey to Un’Goro.