Activision Blizzard Q4 2015 Earnings

Legion is expected to launch this summer, following the June release of the Warcraft film by Legendary Pictures.

didnt they say it wont be connected with the movie?

Originally Posted by Zantos

How do you get 6million? Last report we got they were at 5.5 million. Also, its not just wow that is up by 25%. Its All online activity across all games, total, not individually. That is also compared to last year, not last quarter.

I just hate that they wont report sub numbers anymore. Though I kind of see why since it seems their interest in wow being the staple is lessening. It just sucks, Less players hurts everyone who plays over all.

If you go by Wow Census, which has tracked subs pretty well, they're at about the same level as the last report, when they last gave out sub numbers.

I thought/predicted they'd take a hit in January, but I was wrong.

The real story is on Wall Street - Activision Blizzard stock is down because A-B had less profit than expected, and it's now rated at B, when they were A for months in 2015. It will probably recover, over time, but it's not the rocket ride it was last year.

For argument's sake, let's say Blizzard numbers a year ago were something like (I pull them completely out of by butthole now):

WoW - 10 mil
HS - 5 mil
HotS - 3 mil
D3 - 1 mil
SC2 - 1 mil

Total: 20 mil

A total increase of 25% across all games means that the TOTAL number has went up by 25% - and it could as well be something like this:

WoW - 6 mil
HS - 12 mil (very likely as HS has grown massively in the last year)
HotS - 5 mil
D3 - 1 mil
SC2 - 1 mil

TOTAL: 25 mil (an increase of 25%)

This is the most interesting piece of information that isn't listed on the front page:

According to the investor call, 2015 was the first year more than 50% of Blizzard’s revenue was derived from sources other than World of Warcraft.

Originally Posted by Andyssian

For argument's sake, let's say Blizzard numbers a year ago were something like (I pull them completely out of by butthole now):

WoW - 10 mil
HS - 5 mil
HotS - 3 mil
D3 - 1 mil
SC2 - 1 mil

Total: 20 mil

A total increase of 25% across all games means that the TOTAL number has went up by 25% - and it could as well be something like this:

WoW - 6 mil
HS - 12 mil (very likely as HS has grown massively in the last year)
HotS - 5 mil
D3 - 1 mil
SC2 - 1 mil

TOTAL: 25 mil (an increase of 25%)

I think you are being very generous with those HotS numbers.

Development schedule cut short to make it in time for movie hype. Now where have we seen this before...

Originally Posted by Vaneesh

Development schedule cut short to make it in time for movie hype. Now where have we seen this before...

Gone with the Wind

Originally Posted by Gib Lover

I think you are being very generous with those HotS numbers.

Most likely - yes I was just illustrating a point

Originally Posted by Gib Lover

Gone with the Wind

1939 videogames were much better, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Blitzo

Calling 3 HS expansions this month. + a new game mode.

HS is probably the biggest cash cow for Blizzard right now. I mean, WoW might still bring a bit more money, but Hearthstone probably has the highest income/development costs ratio.

Just imagine... When it comes to HS, the development team is relatively small, the game is quite simple and doesn't require a lot of resources to create content for and probably sells really well, gaining a lot of profit as HS card packs aren't particularly cheap.

Originally Posted by Jaylock

Duh.

ON AVERAGE, monthly active users went up by 25%. What is wrong with you? So ON AVERAGE we can derrive that the WoW subs went up 25% or 1.5 million subs. So based ON AVERAGE the wow population is at or near 7.5 million active users.

Now that could be completely wrong, and wow could have went down 10% in subs, and hearthstone could have gone up 40%, but that much across one game is highly unlikely.

Also, I know this is "anecdotal" but the servers that I play on seem to have gone up in traffic and players. A lot more activity outside cities, in raids, etc. The group builder tool has many more raids looking for more people than ever before. Anecdotal? Yes, but still evidence nonetheless.

The bait is strong with this one.

25% average over all games (common sense dicates hearthstone accounts for super big lion's share) results in 25% sub increase for WoW.
flawless logic

Good thing they stopped reporting the wow numbers. Now they can lump it in with all the other games so it can never have negative growth thanks to Hearthstone, HotS to a lesser extent and soon Overwatch.

Originally Posted by Jaylock

Duh.

ON AVERAGE, monthly active users went up by 25%. What is wrong with you? So ON AVERAGE we can derrive that the WoW subs went up 25% or 1.5 million subs. So based ON AVERAGE the wow population is at or near 7.5 million active users.

Nowhere does it say it's an average though, it just says that monthly active users are up by 25%, and considering its outside the context of any particular game, I think it's safe to assume in this case "user" means a bnet account, so they could be playing any game. WoW subs could stay exactly the same and monthly active users could still go up by 25% if a lot of people were playing other bnet games.

All these numbers for games doing well or games getting read to release, but cant tell people how WoW is deceasing because theres nothing to do till maybe the summer when legion comes out. Bet you all when legion release and if the subs goes up they will start giving legion numbers.

Jaylock is going to eat well tonight too.

Honestly, the investors likely wouldn't give a rat's ass about WoW losing subs - that if of course given that other games make up for the lost revenue.

Originally Posted by Aberrict

This is the most interesting piece of information that isn't listed on the front page:

Mmm, I agree - that's arguably the most important fact from this investor call.

World of Warcraft isn't their money-maker any more, and I think that's a significant thing to come to terms with.

I like how they happily report hearthstone having 40 million users but refuse to comment the exact number of people playing WoW.

They state its gone up by 25% but that could mean anything, that could mean that WoW was down to 3.2 million and has gone up to 3.7 its not necessarily a figure of good expectations.

Frankly ive seen entire servers virtually dead lately, the holiday has brought in "some" activity but once thats over its back to the same old same old.

Originally Posted by Jaylock

The last time they reported sub numbers it was 5.8 million. So yeah, i rounded a little. We can probably expect subs to be at or around 7.5 million at this current point in time, given the metrics.

Oh Jay-I-deny-every-reality-lock. I probably more safe to assume that wow has atm somewhere between 4.5 and 5mill ACTIVE users. 7.5mill rolfmao. Your at least allways good for a bad joke, mate

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Originally Posted by CaptainV

I like how they happily report hearthstone having 40 million users but refuse to comment the exact number of people playing WoW.

SO, what wrong with that? from the Shareholders point all that counts is how much money blizzard made....

40 million registered players! WOW-O-WOW-O-WOW! THAT'S AMAZING AND MEANS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!