Today Activision revealed its financial results for the second quarter of calendar year 2018. Activision is rather unique among game publishers as it measures its financial periods in calendar quarter and not fiscal quarters. This time around it’s about the three months between April 1st and June 30th, 2018.
Below you can check out the specific results posted by the publisher. The second quarter results were better-than-expected, and net bookings (basically sales) set a record for the first half of the year.
The press release included a comment by Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick.
“This was another strong quarter for Activision Blizzard. Our portfolio of global franchises enabled us to deliver record first half revenues and earnings per share. This past weekend we held the Overwatch League Grand Finals. We had a very successful first season as we enhanced our leadership position in esports. And, today we announced two additional Overwatch League franchise sales at record prices, adding Atlanta, Georgia and Guangzhou, China to our league. We plan to announce additional franchises over the next few months.”
Last, but certainly not least, we get a breakdown of all the achievements and milestones recorded by Activision and its subsidiaries during the quarter.
We learn that pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Pre-orders are “strong” and Destiny 2‘s attach rate was better than that of Destiny‘s second expansion. On top of that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy enjoyed “strong performance” on Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
Audience Reach
- Activision Blizzard had 352 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in the quarter.
- Activision had 45 million MAUs. Call of Duty®: World War II continued to have more MAUs than the prior franchise release. Pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 are strong. Black Ops 3 MAUs grew quarter-over-quarter and, in June,reached the highest level for this year as over 15 million players geared up for the October 12th release of Black Ops 4. During the quarter, Destiny 2 released its second expansion, Warmind, with higher attach rates than Destiny 1’s second expansion, and Destiny 2 MAUs grew quarter-over-quarter. Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy successfully launched for Xbox One, Switch, and PC in the quarter with strong performance.
- Blizzard had 37 million MAUs ahead of significant content coming in the second half of 2018. World of Warcraft® momentum remains high ahead of the upcoming expansion, Battle for Azeroth™, which is seeing strong pre-orders. Blizzard is building on the excitement around theOverwatch League with further Overwatch® esports events, and a continuous stream of content for the game in the second half of this year, including seasonal events, maps, heroes, and new cosmetic items. Pre-purchases for theupcoming Hearthstone® expansion, TheBoomsday Project™, are tracking ahead of any prior expansion at the same point in time pre-release.
- King had 270 million MAUs. Candy Crush Saga™ mobile MAUs were stable quarter-over-quarter and grew year-over-year. King’s engagement remained strong with daily time spent per user at 36 minutes.
Deep Engagement
- The Overwatch League held its Grand Finals event at Barclays Center in New York on June 27-28. The Grand Finals had a sold-out live audience and millions of global viewers watched on TV networks and streaming platforms. The hard-to-reach 18 to 34 demographic made up approximately 70% of the global audience.
- Activision’s Call of Duty World League continued to enjoy momentum with year-to-date minutes watched up 50% year-over-year heading into its championships in Columbus, Ohio later this month.
Player Investment
- Activision Blizzard delivered $1 billion of in-game net bookings in the second quarter and a record of approximately $2 billion year-to-date.
- Activision had record Q2 in-game net bookingsA, driven by Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, and Destiny 2.
- This quarter, King had two of the top-10 highest-grossing titles in the U.S. mobile app stores for the nineteenth quarter in a row, with Candy Crush Saga at #1 again. Overall Candy Crush™ franchise net bookings grew double digits year-over-year.
- King’s advertising business was profitable for the second quarter in a row with net bookings growing sequentially.
If you want to compare today’s results with historical data, you can check out our dedicated article from May, showing the announcement for the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
If you want to join those “strong” Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 pre-orders, you can do so on Amazon.
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