Activision Blizzard Q4 2020 Investor Call

Activision Blizzard Q4 2020 Investor Call
The Activision Blizzard earnings call was this afternoon. We've highlighted some of the written results below.

Activision Blizzard
  • In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
  • Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
  • Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

Blizzard
  • World of Warcraft MAUs grew year-over-year for the sixth consecutive quarter.
  • World of Warcraft saw strong engagement across both the Classic and modern game modes throughout 2020
  • World of Warcraft full year franchise net bookings grew 40% year-over-year, reaching the highest level in nearly a decade.
  • Fourth quarter net bookings for World of Warcraft grew sharply year-over-year, driven by strong sales of the Shadowlands expansion, subscriber growth, and high participation in value added services
  • World of Warcraft player and engagement trends since the Shadowlands release are stronger than levels typically seen at this point after an expansion launch.
  • The team intends to deliver more frequent premium World of Warcraft content to sustain and expand the Warcraft community.
  • Multiple initiatives underway to experience WoW on a more consistent basis and on more platforms than ever before.
  • The team has made multiple mobile free to play Warcraft experiences and they are now in advanced development, based on the franchise IP. This will create opportunities for existing players and new fans to experience the Warcraft universe in entirely new ways.

Diablo
  • On mobile, the first stage of regional testing for Diablo Immortal in December and January was met with very positive feedback and strong engagement metrics.
  • Multiple Warcraft teams working on new content initiatives across platforms.
  • More players will get to experience Diablo Immortal in further rounds of testing ahead of the launch planned for later this year

Blizzard
  • 2022 will be a great year for Blizzard. Expect another step change in financial performance as they execute their pipeline.
  • Blizzard Q4 revenue was down a bit year over year, as growth for WoW was offset by a decline for other titles and the absence of BlizzCon.
  • Blizzard 2020 revenue was up 11% year over year, operating income up 49%, 9pp increase in margin.
  • Social games and WoW kept much stronger engagement even after lockdowns ended.
  • WoW momentum is unusually high for a non-expansion year.
  • A few things up their sleeve with remastered content that will be unveiled in due course.
  • Blizzard plans to hire more developers going forward. They'll bring talent from one game to another internally.
  • Blizzard wants to bring games to players across the world across different platforms and genres.


This article was originally published in forum thread: Activision Blizzard Q4 2020 Investor Call started by chaud View original post
Published on 2021-02-04 09:16 PM
265 Comments
Comments 264 Comments
  1. Skandulous's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sluvs View Post
    The funniest thing in the these investor calls is seeing WoW being successful and these boards doing some olympic level mental gymnastics to prove that actually no, WOW IS DYING!
    its dying a real slow death but thank god the pandemic came and ppl are forced to stay home with nothing to do but game.


    In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
    Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
    Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

    COD and Activision games are carrying the company while WOW makes more money from the cash shop then subs. Candy Crush grosses more revenue then WOW lmao
  1. munkeyinorbit's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Logwyn View Post
    Yeah. I can see that. Or XBOERS ONLY no PCdewds apply.
    "This guys doing way too much dps. I bet he's on PC"
    *Vote kick succeeds*

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    no it doesnt ............................

    https://medium.com/fluffy-fruity-cat...k-25c2e0e1154c


    https://www.gamasutra.com/view/featu...ife_after_.php


    https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/10...on-subscribers
    Ok buddy. Leave out the fact that at launch Cata was the highest in both. Massaging the truth to fit your narrative is still lying when the answer to the question is binary.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    - - - Updated - - -



    hey fake news why dont you post a source
    I am educated and educated people know that you don't need a source for common knowledge. Common knowledge is knowledge that only requires a quick Google search. Thanks for playing.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Segus1992 View Post


    How are people not aware of this picture and yet claim what expansion had the most players? It was unquestionably Wrath, at least before they stopped reporting numbers.
    See how that Dot the first dot from the left in the red section is higher than all of the other dots? That was in Cata. Thanks for proving me right.
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Nice to see, exactly as predicted though even if I didn't expect it to remain THIS positive... Really wish they'd put out another one of those showcases on WoW stats that they did in MoP.

    Oh, and of course, cue all the idiots still needing to pretend that 1) WoW is dead/dying or 2) that Classic is carrying Retail.

    EU alone has more full/High servers than Classic has servers in total. Classic carrying the game is a numerical impossibility, nevermind the complete irrationality inherent to believing such a thing in the light of a new expansion rolling out.
  1. munkeyinorbit's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Segus1992 View Post
    You're not seriously saying Cata had more players than Wrath because it had one point that's potentially very slightly higher while all others are significantly lower?
    Shift those goal posts buddy. We are talking about most subs. Not cumulative subs.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    yes thats what he is implying
    It's not an implication. It is stating a fact.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Cazze View Post
    Guys if you hate blizzard so fucking much and think they are rotten, greedy, stupid, incompetent, why are you always here , on every thread, ready to take some toxic diarrhea shits all over it. It's kinda pathetic, you know.
    It's called quitters remorse. They have quit but feel uncomfortable about it. The goal is to get others to quit as well so they feel better about their decision. If others agree with them then it is a bias feedback loop that confirms their decision and it gives them an endorphin rush.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    you have never even posted a source to your claim
    The source is in the OP. Are we going to go off to some other 3rd party source and get their opinion? Why? It says right in the report.
  1. Tietoso's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    its dying a real slow death but thank god the pandemic came and ppl are forced to stay home with nothing to do but game.


    In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
    Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
    Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

    COD and Activision games are carrying the company while WOW makes more money from the cash shop then subs. Candy Crush grosses more revenue then WOW lmao
    I feel sorry for you that you need to come and year in year out prophesize how wow is dying and this is it, this is the year it dies.

    Also Candy Crush will gross most revenue than a lot of AAA games. Its a mobile game made by a small team that cost close to nothing to operate, so your point is disingenuous.
  1. pewpmeiser's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    Except Warcraft logs says otherwise..... More people have parsed and raided in Classic wow then Retail Castle Narthia and it isnt even close


    https://classic.warcraftlogs.com/zon...#timespan=1000


    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/st...#timespan=1000

    this is just naxx btw and it destroys CN in the amount of parses

    classic 10 million parses vs retail not even 1 million lmao
    nobody cares about parsing, yo
  1. Sluvs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    its dying a real slow death but thank god the pandemic came and ppl are forced to stay home with nothing to do but game.


    In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
    Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
    Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

    COD and Activision games are carrying the company while WOW makes more money from the cash shop then subs. Candy Crush grosses more revenue then WOW lmao
    Yes, and MAUs have been going up for WoW and down for the other games. If anything it shows that the other games have been laggin behind not WoW.

    Yes, there are games that provides more profit than WoW, but that is completely meaningless for WoW, as it is tapping (and rulling) another market that does not interfere with other activision games at all. Not to mention WoW is basically guaranteed steady revenue. For every 1 million players playing, it brings back 12-15 million dollars. EVERY MONTH. Sure is not pure profit, there are some deductions to be made.

    The game is not dying in any way shape or form. It's success just bothers you for some reason.
  1. Segus1992's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by munkeyinorbit View Post
    See how that Dot the first dot from the left in the red section is higher than all of the other dots? That was in Cata. Thanks for proving me right.
    You have no business claiming you know anything about the topic if you weren't already aware of that graph.

    What are you "right" about anyway? That Cata technically had a slightly higher sub point than Wrath at one point?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by munkeyinorbit View Post
    Shift those goal posts buddy. We are talking about most subs. Not cumulative subs.
    Shift goal posts? Man you're defensive, I haven't been talking to you at all.
  1. Asrialol's Avatar
    Glad to see the company doing good, as expected, though. Same with WoW and other Blizzard games, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone they're quite popular and successful.
  1. rrayy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    its dying a real slow death but thank god the pandemic came and ppl are forced to stay home with nothing to do but game.


    In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
    Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
    Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

    COD and Activision games are carrying the company while WOW makes more money from the cash shop then subs. Candy Crush grosses more revenue then WOW lmao
    ANd you just proved his point. The mental gymnastics and spin are all there. Wow is not dying no matter how you try to spin things.
  1. Argorwal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    its dying a real slow death but thank god the pandemic came and ppl are forced to stay home with nothing to do but game.


    In the fourth quarter, Activision had 128 million MAUs, up from 111M in Q3 and 125M in Q2.
    Activision Blizzard had roughly 400 MAUs in 2020.
    Blizzard had 29 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, down from 30 million in Q3, and 32 million in Q1/Q2.

    COD and Activision games are carrying the company while WOW makes more money from the cash shop then subs. Candy Crush grosses more revenue then WOW lmao
    Candy Crush is one of (if the the) most revenue generating game of all time.

    It has mass appeal and minimal operating costs.
  1. javierdsv's Avatar
    WoW Console / Mobile confirmed!
  1. MrLachyG's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by salate View Post
    Well, WoW aint dead yet. As many wanted it to.
    Far from it I guess?
    WoW iS a DeAd GaMe
    /s
  1. Bootynuzzler's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    what that classic WoW is carrying retail hard?
    Oh, is that why everyone in my Classic guild jumped ship over to retail immediately after killing KT? Maybe take a look at Trade chat and LookingForGroup. Guild recruitment is at the highest it's been since launch. Care to guess why?

  1. Daedius's Avatar
    All that brilliant "success" with WoW, all the while they're shutting down places with mass lay offs... while paying that douchebag €20m a year...

    The layoffs have reflected with poor QA of the bloody game, SL was a buggy mess with a lot of untested things upon release that took months to hot fix...
  1. glowpipe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Spicymemer View Post
    tldr
    Classic is carrying the shit out of MAU's
    Shadowlands is doing better than average.
    Diablo immortal might be a sucess with mobile gamers, who are for the most part not comming from existing Blizzard fanbase of players who dont need to play mobile games, THEY HAVE PC'S!
    You couldn't be more wrong, but thats ok. Now im gonna tell you how wrong you are
    Wow classic, as of writing this.
    Full pop servers: Eu = 0. Na = 0
    High pop servers: Eu = 5. Na = 6
    Normal pop servers: Eu = 31. Na = 28
    Low pop servers: Eu = 7. Na = 7

    Wow shadowlands
    Full pop servers: Eu = 20. Na = 34
    High pop servers: Eu = 45. Na = 68
    Medium and low, Stopped counting after 100 for both EU and NA. Individualy

    I have been monitoring this for a long ass time, check my post history. Classic has ALWAYS been a fraction of retail, except the first month.
    Classic is not in any way shape or form carrying mau's or wow. Its tiny compared to retail. It even was during BFA. You gotta be pretty damn delusional if you think classic is carrying jack shit.

    Source: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/game/status/eu

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    what that classic WoW is carrying retail hard?
    Look above, you litteraly couldn't be more wrong


    And the last time this was calculated here. For classic to outearn retail. this was based on bfa and legion day one numbers, classic would have to have around 15 million subs for 1 month, 7.5m for 2. Thats just to outearn bfa and legion day 1. Shadowlands sold even more
  1. Belloc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    Most retail servers would be dead to if not for cross realm.
    You say that like it's a bad thing. Cross-Realm servers are yet another benefit of playing the retail client. It's amazing how people continue playing a game that keeps their systems up-to-date and allows players to connect with each other.
  1. glowpipe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by gleepot View Post
    nobody cares about parsing, yo
    He only posted mythic nathria aswell. Because the only way to prove his "point" is to be dishonest as fuck.
    Classic logs is always 40 people per 1 player logging. retail its 10 to 30. Mostly around 20.
    How many people do you think logs pugs ? casual guild runs or even lfr ? There is not a single nathria lfr log.

    Server stats speak for themselves, and parses proves litteraly nothing.
  1. Beastiel's Avatar
    A few things up their sleeve with remastered content that will be unveiled in due course.
    no please no more remasters just leave your old games alone
  1. tmamass's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skandulous View Post
    what that classic WoW is carrying retail hard?
    source for your claim? oh you dont have one, yeah I figured. classic is so gooood it will be replaced by tbc :-P
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