Activision Blizzard Announces Q3 2022 Financial Results

[rogoth]

Wouldn’t they just jump to another chineses publishers like they did when they teamed up with netease? I’d assume they would avoid
The same legal pit falls as last time making the down time Far less.

that's not how doing business in china works, also, since it seems many aren't aware of this fact, NetEase are on the CCP's shitlist and are actively falling apart as a company within China, so Relapses 'reading between the lines' bullshit has nothing to do with the two companies 'falling out', it's more than likely that blizzard needs certain assurances in place alongside the current 'middle man' that NetEase provides which is something ActiBlizz wants to have before renegotiating their contract.

In terms of jumping ship and trying to get in bed with another company to provide them with the 'middle man' they need to legally operate in China, the CCP has cracked down on international companies aligning with both state owned and 'private' enterprises within China over the last couple of years and it's now even harder for companies to establish a legal and fair partnership in order to do business within China as a result, and the 'mutually-satisfactory' wording is more likely referring to keeping NetEase and the CCP on side than anything ActiBlizz is after.

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I'm not sure this is just on NetEase tbh, with China having essentially started a "war on gaming" (even the local studios/publishers) I could see them run into multiple issues regarding continued publishing in the area. Pretending the Chinese market is a way to limitless growth would probably appear laughable even to investors that don't follow the scene. Though you are correct, that they worded it like that probably means they don't have high expectations of a continued collaboration with NetEase.

What contacts does Microsoft use for publishing in the chinese market? Maybe they can piggy-back on them.

i could be wrong but last time i bothered looking at things like that i think microsoft is one of the very small number of companies that can sell to the chinese market without needing a 'middle man' operator, due to what microsoft produced historically and how ubiquitous it was with the technological revolution which China bought hand over fist to try and catch up with the likes of the US and such, unless things have changed they are able to directly interact with the Chinese market.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

that's not how doing business in china works, also, since it seems many aren't aware of this fact, NetEase are on the CCP's shitlist and are actively falling apart as a company within China, so Relapses 'reading between the lines' bullshit has nothing to do with the two companies 'falling out', it's more than likely that blizzard needs certain assurances in place alongside the current 'middle man' that NetEase provides which is something ActiBlizz wants to have before renegotiating their contract.

In terms of jumping ship and trying to get in bed with another company to provide them with the 'middle man' they need to legally operate in China, the CCP has cracked down on international companies aligning with both state owned and 'private' enterprises within China over the last couple of years and it's now even harder for companies to establish a legal and fair partnership in order to do business within China as a result, and the 'mutually-satisfactory' wording is more likely referring to keeping NetEase and the CCP on side than anything ActiBlizz is after.

That’s more or less the same thing that happens when blizzard partnered with Netease if I remember correctly.

The company they were with before got in the CCP’s bad books as well as them tightening restrictions on gaming, blizzard jumped ship and tried to sign up with netease but didn’t do it completely by the book so wow was shut down in China for a bit while it was all figured out and then when it came back up there were still some lingering issues so netease could host wow but still couldn’t actually charge for it for like half an year.

Pretty much most of wrath wow either wasn’t up or was up but new players couldn’t join and existing players weren’t charged while the middlemen issues were ongoing.

[Yooginava182]

NetEase falling out with Blizzard would be enormous. Yikes.

Why "yikes"? fuck China. More companies should make this move.

[liyroot]

Why "yikes"? fuck China. More companies should make this move.

So they can lose billions?

[MoanaLisa]

Wouldn’t they just jump to another chineses publishers like they did when they teamed up with netease? I’d assume they would avoid
The same legal pit falls as last time making the down time Far less.

I would suppose that the 'falling out' is more complicated than a two-party partnership. The Chinese government may be a not-so-innocent bystander in all of this with all of their restrictions on who can play and for how long as well as not approving/licensing any games at all for nine months last year and part of this one. All of that going on to the side is going to upset apple carts on both sides. I can't imagine there isn't pressure to not bring Western-influenced video games into the country.

That's all speculation by the way but my mind immediately went there with that very vague last paragraph.

[MasterHamster]

Their quarterly reports feel like they know it's bad, they are just very good at positioning releases and numbers to just barely keep up appearances. Like a house with a very nice exterior but the owners know the bearing walls are rotting.
But that's pretty much the same as any stagnating company. Once the numbers don't go up by themselves-- and pretty much all hype and long-time fans are gone, you gotta do some number-magic.


I miss "It's ready when it's ready" Blizzard. The company that knew that if they produced top-quality games and content, the revenue would come naturally.
Now it's just an endless strategy games of what has to happen between which dates to keep up the appearance that Blizzard as a company and their games aren't declining.
Of course, nothing can grow forever, that's the reality of it. But it always come crashing down sooner or later, when you've hit the "hide the stagnation"-phase.

[Nymrohd]

Beyond the issue with China which is serious and in line with the CCP having a fairly negative view of gaming, I am more concerned about the Microsoft deal failing due to regulatory concerns. The EU will have them jump through a few hoops but I honestly feel right now the bigger concern is the UK regulator which has taken a very negative initial stance towards the acquisition. The fallout if the deal fails will be enormous for gaming. Microsoft could change to a far more aggressive approach since at current inflation they will be stuck with tons of money they HAVE to invest and a bone to pick with SONY, going into bidding wars for every franchise and likely moving to the same approach as SONY and going for timed exclusives and similar anti-consumer practices. Meanwhile ATVI will be stuck with Kottick and the stock will take a massive plunge.

[glowpipe]

Suspiciously silent about Diablo Immortal Profits outside of China. I guess western audiences weren't too happy about it after all, who would have thought...

was never the target audience to begin with, this game was purely made for the chinese market

[Daedius]

This is why they added the 1-year subscription rewards a few days ago.

I honestly got no qualms with a year's sub... many games offer that choice for the frequent players that'd benefit from the bulk discount.

[Shakzor]

So they can lose billions?

As a consumer, why should we care?
All we need to care about is "is product satisfactory?" and maybe "does company do extremely unethical shit, which i might not want to support?".
I couldn't care less if some multi-billion-companies lose their china money, as long as i keep getting good product. That's their thing to care about. Not like they'd go bankrupt.
And if they smash greedy MTX into everything else to compensate for lost china billions, bye bye, since then it wouldn't be "product is satisfactory" anymore.

[Adam552]

If you look at the numbers in detail, these are terrible results for Activision Blizzard.

[mbit2]

I would suppose that the 'falling out' is more complicated than a two-party partnership. The Chinese government may be a not-so-innocent bystander in all of this with all of their restrictions on who can play and for how long as well as not approving/licensing any games at all for nine months last year and part of this one. All of that going on to the side is going to upset apple carts on both sides. I can't imagine there isn't pressure to not bring Western-influenced video games into the country.

That's all speculation by the way but my mind immediately went there with that very vague last paragraph.

I suspect blizzards newest inclusivity push goes against chinas policies. Last year news was china bans gay relationships in games and blizz has now you helping some gay frogs with their romance in dragonflight...

[FelPlague]

I suspect blizzards newest inclusivity push goes against chinas policies. Last year news was china bans gay relationships in games and blizz has now you helping some gay frogs with their romance in dragonflight...

What are you talking about?
It's all their games that are having issue, not just wow. And this is not because they hate blizz, but it's a media wide issue, china is cracking down hard on foreign media entering China, not just blizzard.

[mbit2]

What are you talking about?
It's all their games that are having issue, not just wow. And this is not because they hate blizz, but it's a media wide issue, china is cracking down hard on foreign media entering China, not just blizzard.

Im saying if blizz ignores chinas legislation with wow china will ban blizz and not just wow...

[Osmeric]

NetEase falling out with Blizzard would be enormous. Yikes.

Maybe 10% of Blizzard's net revenue? It would have a larger effect on their MAU and possibly WoW active subs, I imagine.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Im saying if blizz ignores chinas legislation with wow china will ban blizz and not just wow...

Blizzard doesn’t ignore china’s legislation they edit the game for the Chineses market and have been doing so since wrath changing some quest text to remove some gay relapnships would be nothing for them.

[Djuntas]

Them loosing china would be hilarious after all the ass-licking.

[mbit2]

Blizzard doesn’t ignore china’s legislation they edit the game for the Chineses market and have been doing so since wrath changing some quest text to remove some gay relapnships would be nothing for them.

Im well aware how they edited undead no bones to comply with china in the past. Situation changed however with new hires clearly seeing themselves as activists and its questionable if management can ensure their compliance to censor everything or if they will prioritize their activism over corp goals. Someone thinks they can slip something through, next moment corp gets crucified. They already had internal fights over how to handle the hong kong incident brought to public on twitter.

[Misuteri]

You guys are like pull-a-lever quote machines.

Not having an annual subscription option would be a fucking terrible business decision, for any company with a subscription product. Subscription's major cons are that your income stream isn't guaranteed month to month, but the pro is that a user might pay and never use their access during the month, meaning they cost you nothing to serve and were pure profit. Not only that, but for most people it's literally something for nothing because they're going to pay 12 monthly subscriptions anyway, and this way they get some money off every month and some shit for free.

I find it legit hilarious how many people on this forum think they know how one of the largest companies on the planet operates just because they use one of their products. Imagine spending your time posting on the internet about how 'desperate' McDonalds are because they're running Monopoly again this year.

I keep thinking other companies should do the same thing. Disney +, Sirius XM, HBO off the top of my head I have annual subscriptions for to save a few months worth of fees. I use some more than others I may not use one of them for a month or more. I just like knowing it’s there when someone recommended something I don’t have to resubscribe.

If I were playing WoW I would think having a classic, retail and a bunch of free stuff would be great. I’m no longer scrounging $15 or buying tokens. However I’m a quiet lurker that just likes seeing nothing on the forums really changes.

[tomten]

With all the restrictions and shady stuff china does to pretty much anyone... Why would businesses even want to do busines with them to begin with?
Because all the P2W whales are from china/Asia?