Activision Blizzard Q2 2020 Earnings Call

Activision Blizzard Q2 2020 Earnings Call
The Activision Blizzard earnings call is this afternoon. We've highlighted some of the written results below.


  • Activision had 125 million MAUs in the second quarter, up from 102 million in Q1 and still down from 128 million in Q4 2019.
  • Blizzard had 32 million MAUs in the second quarter. This is the same as Q1 and Q4 2019.
  • World of Warcraft reach and engagement once again increased sequentially, as shelter-at-home conditions further boosted the franchise’s strong trajectory.
  • The Shadowlands expansion saw an enthusiastic response from players in its public testing, with pre-sales accelerating even further ahead of its release in the fourth quarter.
  • World of Warcraft engagement is the highest in a decade at this point ahead of an expansion.
  • Building on the success of Battlegrounds and recent live operations, the Hearthstone pipeline includes expansions, new engagement features and a new game mode planned for the coming quarters.
  • Overwatch engagement grew year-over-year, including among returning players.
  • Diablo Immortal, developed for mobile in partnership with NetEase, is due to expand internal testing with a company playtest in the coming weeks.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Activision Blizzard Q2 2020 Earnings Call started by chaud View original post
Published on 2020-08-04 08:27 PM
140 Comments
Comments 139 Comments
  1. TheFirstOnes's Avatar
    Damn dude, I do wish that, one day, we see those Sub numbers again...
  1. Edward Wu's Avatar
    "increased sequentially" "boosted trajectory" "engagement"

    Holy shit the buzzword salad. They really have to get creative these days to keep spinning that everything is alright in WoW land.
  1. Lurker1's Avatar
    Well done blizzard!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS View Post
    "increased sequentially" "boosted trajectory" "engagement"

    Holy shit the buzzword salad. They really have to get creative these days to keep spinning that everything is alright in WoW land.
    Or you guys are just indenial about it and mad that wow is still doing fine.
  1. Heartbreaker23's Avatar
    What does engagement mean? People playing the game? How many? Can you give us a number? Why is there such a high engagement when it's the end of expansion blues?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Lurker1 View Post
    Well done blizzard!
    Bootlicker.
  1. Edward Wu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Heartbreaker23 View Post
    What does engagement mean? People playing the game? How many? Can you give us a number? Why is there such a high engagement when it's the end of expansion blues?
    Nobody fucking knows. Blizzard intentionally chooses these vague descriptors for the game's current state as it looks generically positive.
  1. MrLachyG's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Heartbreaker23 View Post
    What does engagement mean? People playing the game? How many? Can you give us a number? Why is there such a high engagement when it's the end of expansion blues?

    - - - Updated - - -



    Bootlicker.
    at the risk of being called a bootlicker, it's because of Coronavirus - lot more people at home playing their game
  1. Heartbreaker23's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrLachyG View Post
    at the risk of being called a bootlicker, it's because of Coronavirus - lot more people at home playing their game
    That's not a bootlicker answer, that actually makes sense. Although it certainly does not feel like that in the game. WoW token also dropped a lot down recently, which is an indicator that less people are buying game time. It usually goes down at the end of the expansion.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Heartbreaker23 View Post
    What does engagement mean? People playing the game? How many? Can you give us a number? Why is there such a high engagement when it's the end of expansion blues?

    - - - Updated - - -



    Bootlicker.
    Can you please, in your infinite wisdom, explain what relevance subscriber numbers have for us as players? They barely meant anything to us when we did get them, why would they matter any more now?

    Oh right. I forgot. You need them to construct your carefully worded thesis about how modern WoW sucks and the number of people playing it is directly proportional to the quality of the game. Keep up the big brain plays my dude.
  1. Nightstalker's Avatar
    Looks like Bobby should have some money over for CMs/Q&A/etc.

    Also: Business talk
  1. stoffe's Avatar
    Well done blizzard! You doing a amazing work!

    Will be behind you in dust and sunshine!
  1. Krakan's Avatar
    The wording is suspect but I imagine classic is helping the numbers when it comes to wow.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Krakan View Post
    The wording is suspect but I imagine classic is helping the numbers when it comes to wow.
    Based off of what? Your gut feeling?
  1. Kurrelurre's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lurker1 View Post
    Well done blizzard!
    World of Warcraft engagement is the highest in a decade at this point ahead of an expansion.

    So much for declining subs....engagement means exactly that, time played. Players. Subscribers or whatever you want; there are rules a listed company has to follow and nr#1 is you can’t lie. So, again, there you go. ” World of Warcraft engagement is the highest in a decade at this point ahead of an expansion.”.

    Now imagine if they had not had crazy grinds like azerite and this awful pandemin hit, probably all time high sub numbers.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS View Post
    "increased sequentially" "boosted trajectory" "engagement"

    Holy shit the buzzword salad. They really have to get creative these days to keep spinning that everything is alright in WoW land.
    what exactly are they spinning? increased sequentially just means that it continued to go up from the last report as in 2 is an sequential increase from 1. same with boost trajectory it just means they had an idea of what the numbers would be and it went up form there.

    nothing here is spinning it's just business esc words being used in a business setting.
  1. Akutare's Avatar
    To be fair, I forgot to cancel my sub, and it renewed for six months. I tend to just pop on, do a few quests if I feel like it, and log out. That's still playing, although I am not very engaged, to be honest.
  1. Dracullus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kurrelurre View Post
    World of Warcraft engagement is the highest in a decade at this point ahead of an expansion.

    So much for declining subs....engagement means exactly that, time played. Players. Subscribers or whatever you want; there are rules a listed company has to follow and nr#1 is you can’t lie. So, again, there you go. ” World of Warcraft engagement is the highest in a decade at this point ahead of an expansion.”.

    Now imagine if they had not had crazy grinds like azerite and this awful pandemin hit, probably all time high sub numbers.
    It's not like COVID went anywhere. On Fall corona will overlap with flu season, I think there will be another "stay in home" campaign around SL launch.

    Quote Originally Posted by otaXephon View Post
    Based off of what? Your gut feeling?
    Your first Earning Call post 2015? ;D
  1. Trbn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by otaXephon View Post
    Based off of what? Your gut feeling?
    based on realm connection process
  1. Teroch's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by stoffe View Post
    Well done blizzard! You doing a amazing work!

    Will be behind you in dust and sunshine!
    I thought the first "well done" corporate fangirling was about the standard but here you are, turning it up to 11. They'll be sending your beta invite, along with a plane ticket and limo for a private guided tour of the office any day, for sure.
  1. antelope591's Avatar
    It doesn't surprise me. 8.3 was the best patch in BFA and stacking corruption finally makes classes fun to play again. The major issue they'll have to deal with is that characters once again feel like sluggish and weak once we lose all this power in Shadowlands. Leveling in beta with the premade characters is an absolute chore and shit takes forever to kill. Its not as bad if you copy over your mythic geared char, but then you'd expect a mythic geared char to smash through leveling no matter what. They once again have to deal with players losing everything and working their way back up after being gimped by losing essences/azerite/corruption. This is gonna cause backlash and people quitting just like in BFA
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS View Post
    Nobody fucking knows. Blizzard intentionally chooses these vague descriptors for the game's current state as it looks generically positive.
    nothing here is vague it's a clear statement of "numbers went up".
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