Activision Blizzard Q3 2021 Investor Call, Jen Oneal Leaving Blizzard

[Super Kami Dende]

World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade.

I don't think WoW is underperforming based on reading the information they gave.

It says it's "on track to Deliver" not that it actually has. Which is just PR spin.

[GreenJesus]

Except this was an expansion year. They sold the deluxe edition TBC for $60 and a retail store mount. So if they are just doing better than other "non-expansion years" with 2 different versions of the game up, then that means retail is dead.

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World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade.

I don't think WoW is underperforming based on reading the information they gave.

This quarter includes deluxe editions for TBC and a store mount. Compare that to 14 month content drought of MoP or Wod and if they are just barely doing better, that is trouble. They have 2 versions of the game (different products) active and they combine the metrics. It should be guaranteed that it does better than other non expansion years. If you dont include classic wow, retail is basically dead.

[Lolites]

It says it's "on track to Deliver" not that it actually has.

which means compared to other years AT THIS TIME its doing better and if it keeps it up it will do better for whole year...

you would have to put some SERIOUS menatal gymnastics into it to twist "doing good" into "omg wow is DYING (and has been for over 15years!!!)"

[Cosmic Janitor]

Except this was an expansion year. They sold the deluxe edition TBC for $60.

But not a modern expansion year! Which in itself is kinda laughable, as the expansion launched at the very tail-end of the previous year, so calling it the post launch year when the expansion isn't even out for a whole year (for the covered timeframe) is just another way to hack your statistics to spin it positively.

Next up: "WoW had it's strongest year of the Ox in the last decade."

[Lolites]

This quarter includes deluxe editions for TBC and a store mount.

ehm... no? TBCC came out 1st of June...
and store mount will do jack shit with engagement, unles you think people who didnt play in years loged into game just to get the mount...

[Thestrawman]

Wow. I think you've just described a successful business that keeps their customers coming back. Do you think any other companies know about this?

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If it makes them money there's no doubt that they will. You would be stupid not to, right?

Here's the thing though, it doesn't make them money. All the hearthstone stuff they added to WoWs six month sub was cheaper then buying them directly from the blizzard store. What it does give them is another potential MAU.

[Lolites]

If you dont include classic wow, retail is basically dead.

well thank god for this asspull, what would we do without it... how about the non modern expansion year when CLASSIC CAME OUT?
it was year when no modern expansion came out, classic came out so both versions vere live, and it definitely was within last 10 years, and it did WORSE than this year...

i know i know, retail is played only by 5 people, its TBCC that is doing so well it have more players than retail + classic vanila had in 2019...
or, which is more likely, wow, both retail and classic ARE DOING GOOD, and its just some peoples obsession or other mental issues to keep repeating "retail/wow is dead"

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But not a modern expansion year! Which in itself is kinda laughable, as the expansion launched at the very tail-end of the previous year, so calling it the post launch year when the expansion isn't even out for a whole year (for the covered timeframe) is just another way to hack your statistics to spin it positively.

Next up: "WoW had it's strongest year of the Ox in the last decade."

i mean it also means its doing better than 2019 when vanila classic was released, which is best comparable reference point...
and we all know the shitshow from start of vanila classic so that was probably VERY good year, and they still did better now...

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I'm amazed at this point that people aren't talking about the fact that Blizzard admitted WoW is dropping in revenue significantly, so much so that it's underperforming Q3 2020, which was BfA's end-of-expansion lull.

eh... what?
their wow revenue is higher than druing BFA... did you even read the data or just make a guess hoping to be correct and failed misserably?

[Ihavewaffles]

So Jen is stealing 1 mil of our money that should go into development n give it to some rabid anti-male org that she will head, totally not stuffing her own pockets.

The earningscall says D4 n OW2 need more development (money) n this is what she chooses to spend on?

[crusadernero]

"World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade."
Scuse me?

Yet another proof that most people dont engage in forums or other platforms when it comes to wow. A tiny, tiny, tiny part of the wow community takes part in it to bitch and moan on the regular about wow dying. While most people dont.

It says so right there, its proof enough. So doomsayers can, and should, go spend theyre time on something else.

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So Jen is stealing 1 mil of our money that should go into development n give it to some rabid anti-male org that she will head, totally not stuffing her own pockets.

The earningscall says D4 n OW2 need more development (money) n this is what she chooses to spend on?

"your money" ?

[Asrialol]

Why do people here have a hard time understanding that the drop in MAUs can still make sense even if WoWs revenue and engagement is doing decent? They have more games than WoW. There is a lot of competition in the FPS genre where they have loads of players (CoD) which can make MAUs drop a lot. Hell, even Candy Crush Saga will have a huge impact on MAUs considering how many people play it.

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I'm not sarcastic at all. I wonder why they dont mention any numbers for wow huh

Because its not relevant for investors?

[MoanaLisa]

Except this was an expansion year. They sold the deluxe edition TBC for $60 and a retail store mount. So if they are just doing better than other "non-expansion years" with 2 different versions of the game up, then that means retail is dead.

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This quarter includes deluxe editions for TBC and a store mount. Compare that to 14 month content drought of MoP or Wod and if they are just barely doing better, that is trouble. They have 2 versions of the game (different products) active and they combine the metrics. It should be guaranteed that it does better than other non expansion years. If you dont include classic wow, retail is basically dead.

You can parse it as you like you but Modern Expansion means retail. So far, retail expansion releases are still printing money for them. The reason they split it out is that quarters and years without an expansion for retail are going to look weaker. Expansion launches are like Christmas for retail sales everywhere else.

[Mendzia]

I like how many people still think there is a possibility that they could openly say 'WoW is not doing good' in their IC...

World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade.
Is that not truth? No. They can't lie.
Is that PR bullshit sentence with each word used perfectly to make it look good? Yes, it is.

[Verdugo]

I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite--

Narrator: She was, in fact, doing it because she is without hope for Blizzard.

[Nerovar]

Who would have thought that Classic players would end up being paypigs for the development of retail content?

I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite--

Narrator: She was, in fact, doing it because she is without hope for Blizzard.

Lmao this is a fantastic quote. Didn't notice it when I skimmed through the statement.

[Lolites]

I like how many people still think there is a possibility that they could openly say 'WoW is not doing good' in their IC...

World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade.
Is that not truth? No. They can't lie.
Is that PR bullshit sentence with each word used perfectly to make it look good? Yes, it is.

ofc it is PR bullshit, companies dont talk like people...
thing is, without opening themself to fines and another lawsuits there is NO WAY to interpret this other way than that wow is in fact doing good... in fact, so far this year better than in 2019 when classic vanila released...
i know some people who yell "wow is dead" (some of them for over decade) might not like it, but it is what it is, its not as good as expansion years, but still good nonetheless

[Ezzet]

Wow i am bookmarking this, nevermind the fact ow2 has already been confirmed for 2022.

Hmm, yeah that first statement up there looks fun.

[ParanoiD84]

They are lucky they have classic and TBC too i bet retail players are at a all time low but hard to know when they stopped showing numbers so just a feeling. But a sub is a sub i guess so does not matter to blizz.

[Mojo03]

They are lucky they have classic and TBC too i bet retail players are at a all time low but hard to know when they stopped showing numbers so just a feeling. But a sub is a sub i guess so does not matter to blizz.

https://mmo-population.com/

Retail is at about 1.1 million according to this site.

Classic at about 500k.

Retail was at 7 million after SL launched.

So it's gone down 6 million in a year...

[Thuran]

According this this, WoW is tracking well and regardless of what people may want or hope, they can't lie to stockholders.

Dude, there is literally an ongoing lawsuit about Blizz lying to their investors.....


Also, for people that day the WoW exodus didn't happen:

In order for the MAU to stay the same, after releasing D2 and Mercenaries, for EVERY SINGLE PLAYER that logged in to HS or Diablo, a player has to have NOT LOGGED IN ONCE to wow.

They also say that D2 has been their most successful product, it means things fir wow are catastrophic, for it not to move MAUs.

To illustrate;

Blizz has 16 players

16 play wow
10 also play HS

26 MAUs - 1 MAU is a person that just logged in to the game ONCE after August.

HS releases mercenaries, so we assume everyone that plays HS logs in at least ONCE to see what the fuss is about, and 3 check it out that haven't played yet.

So it should be

16 play wow
13 also play HS

So 29 MAU

But blizz says it stays 26, so the truth is;

13 play wow at least once in past 3 months.
13 also tried HS at least once in past 3 months.

26 MAUs

D2 released, is a success, 10 people check it out.

That should be now 36 MAU

16 players.

13 play wow at least once
13 play HS at least once
10 logged into D2 at least once.

36.

But it's 26, meaning, assuming people checked out mercenaries at least once, as a f2p game, the actual numbers must be:

16 players

10 tried D2 at least once
13 checked out mercenaries at least once
3 players logged into wow at least once in the past 3 months!!!

26 MAU according to blizzard.


In short, for BOTH mercenaries AND Diablo 2 to release in the same quarter, and MAU to STAY THE SAME - it means the wow exodus was FAR WORSE that anyone could have thought!

THAT is why their stock value is dropping like a rock after this meeting. According to the numbers blizz tells us, wow is FUCKED right now.

[Ihavewaffles]

https://mmo-population.com/

Retail is at about 1.1 million according to this site.

Classic at about 500k.

Retail was at 7 million after SL launched.

So it's gone down 6 million in a year...

I believe it, hardly anyone online, even trade chat is dead, like the goldsellers moved to other games