Welcome to the latest financial earnings report from Activision Blizzard. The company has seen overall success, but Blizzard has had an exceptional quarter, surpassing $1 billion USD in net bookings for the first time ever. This achievement is thanks to the highly anticipated launch of Diablo 4.
In the second quarter earnings report for this fiscal year, Activision Blizzard announced a 50% year-over-year growth in net bookings. The company amassed $2.46 billion compared to the $1.64 billion reported in the second quarter of 2022.
This growth is attributed to various factors, including increased player investment in live operations content for games like Call of Duty, which experienced a 17% rise. Additionally, King, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, achieved another quarterly net bookings record. However, the major highlight is Diablo 4, which has sold-through more units than any other Blizzard title at a similar stage of release, contributing to impressive revenue growth and tripled operating revenue for Blizzard.
The success of Diablo 4 is expected to continue, with the imminent release of its first live-service season and plans for expansions that will deliver major new features and extend the acclaimed narrative for years to come.
Interestingly, the success of Diablo 4 also had a positive impact on Diablo: Immortal, Blizzard’s free-to-play mobile game, which experienced a significant boost in monthly net bookings following Diablo 4’s release in June.
In other news, player engagement and investment for Overwatch 2 have declined, which may explain the game’s upcoming move to Steam. As for World of Warcraft, while there is no major announcement, Activision Blizzard shares that the Dragonflight expansion released last year has helped maintain higher subscriber retention in the West compared to recent expansions.
For more detailed information, refer to Activision Blizzard’s press release, which also mentions the extension of the acquisition deadline with Microsoft, from July 18th to October 18th. If the deal does not go through by then, Microsoft will be required to pay Activision a termination fee of $4.5 billion.