Activision Blizzard, Inc Earnings Report - WoW's Predictions

[Big Thanks]

Dont know if this is a quality thread to have...sorry if is not appropriate.

The earnings report comes out today when market closes.
Any predictions for World of Warcraft?

EDIT:

-Blizzard had 35M MAUs in the quarter, as Overwatch and Hearthstone saw stability and World of Warcraft saw expected declines post the expansion release this summer.
-Activision Blizzard wants to de-prioritize games and initiatives that aren't meeting expectations
-Activision Blizzard will be reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs.
-Investing more for biggest, internally-owned franchises.
-More upfront releases, in-game content, mobile, and geographic expansion.
-Investments in esports leagues and advertising
-20% increase in development resources in aggregate for Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo.
-World of Warcraft already has a regular cadence of releases and content.
-Diablo's headcount will grow substantially, as the teams work on multiple projects.
-There are multiple mobile projects underway across Activision Blizzard.
-Roughly 8% of staff were laid off.

[Trend]

I predict that the reporting will be fully inline with the requirements and not a lot will be said about WoW since it's not one of the many volatile parts of the business. I further predict that a bunch of people on these boards who don't have the first clue about financial reporting will have conspiracy theories about what that really means.

[Big Thanks]

Last quarter for reference (i think this was the last one...not sure) :

https://seekingalpha.com/article/422...gs-call-slides

[Riistov]

For WoW?
Not much, I'd guess something like "World of Warcraft engagement was stayed strong Q/Q after expansion launch and the quarter saw strong participation in value‐added services"

Yeah, that's pretty much been the default for years now. As much as some people around here hate to admit it, the game is always going to be a reliable profit machine. Classic will only add to that as well.

[MoanaLisa]

Any news about WoW--which is unlikely--will be drowned out by the Layoffapocalypse which may or may not have any effect on WoW.

[Big Thanks]

Yeah, that's pretty much been the default for years now. As much as some people around here hate to admit it, the game is always going to be a reliable profit machine. Classic will only add to that as well.

The one day no one doomsays WoW is on this day?
Seems like is going to be a good day

[unbound]

I predict that the reporting will be fully inline with the requirements and not a lot will be said about WoW since it's not one of the many volatile parts of the business. I further predict that a bunch of people on these boards who don't have the first clue about financial reporting will have conspiracy theories about what that really means.

And those that know how to read the actual financial reports will be ignored in favor of those that post the PR slides instead.

[Big Thanks]

Any news about WoW--which is unlikely--will be drowned out by the Layoffapocalypse which may or may not have any effect on WoW.

Oh boy...i didnt think about that.
Maybe this year there will be drama?

- - - Updated - - -

They're all here: https://investor.activision.com/
Along with all the SEC reports.

I never understand the mambo jumbo going on on those reports. Sadly i dont know what half the terms mean

[Cosmic Janitor]

Engagment slighly lower than previously, in-app purchases have risen once again.

[dope_danny]

I don't imagine they'll say much. Which is funny since usually 'the less they mention the worse its doing' is activisions shareholder MO for everything else but with WoW they just kind of go some variant of 'its fine'.

Now not hearing anything about Overwatch or Hearthstone? thats the ones where its a sign its not doing so hot.

[Vineri]

We're hitting hard with popularity amongst fans. MAU's are down from this time last year. Big plans ahead for the mobile markets. Cost cuts and job elimination generated added income.

Games unperformed, but added value services generated Billions. No big titles on the horizon so we'll keep milking existing customers for more money than ever before ... Zzzzz...

People simply adore us .. Zzzz...

..

Realistically nothing very exciting. Activision-Blizzard lost their identity already to many of the fans who built them up in the first place. It would happen eventually, and pretty good for the small developer markets, who put out quality above everything else, something Activision-Blizzard has long forgotten.

[Zandalariprelate]

A lot of people here should study accountability

[GreenJesus]

If blizzard says Overwatch is shrinking then what will that say about their esport business? Another year or 2 and overwatch league gets cancelled too? Not a good prospect for sponsors. The only reason Coca Cola sponsored o rewatch is because Kotick is a director on Coke's board. Definitely no conflict of interest there.

[Aeula]

Engagement decreased. But they'll have made more money from it than this time last expansion or something.

[MoanaLisa]

If blizzard says Overwatch is shrinking then what will that say about their esport business? Another year or 2 and overwatch league gets cancelled too? Not a good prospect for sponsors. The only reason Coca Cola sponsored o rewatch is because Kotick is a director on Coke's board. Definitely no conflict of interest there.

My expected fallout: Blizzard will back away a little bit from e-sports all around. Maybe some people layed off there related to social media and outreach. No idea about Overwatch itself. Blizzard could do worse than to open it up and allow it to be a single-person shooter by adding a game mode for it. Hearthstone expansions will be released at a slower pace, maybe two per year. Team might be cut back a bit.

The rest of the layoffs will be either in ATVI proper (including the entire Destiny team) and perhaps some of the administrative areas in Blizzard Entertainment. Look for administrative and social media areas where ATVI will handle things for Blizzard that they now handle with their own teams.

Little news about WoW. Emphasis increased on new product for 2019.

Caveat: I don't know anything more than anyone else. This is all guesswork but it makes sense to me.

[sam86]

If blizzard says Overwatch is shrinking then what will that say about their esport business? Another year or 2 and overwatch league gets cancelled too? Not a good prospect for sponsors. The only reason Coca Cola sponsored o rewatch is because Kotick is a director on Coke's board. Definitely no conflict of interest there.

can't kodick just leave video game industry forever ? has his greed know no limit ? seriously of all ppl involved in video games, i never read quotes from someone who hate video games that much as him, he is almost as those famous old senators who also hate video games, he hates video games with passion yet he works in video game industry, it just show he just care only for cash and nothing else

- - - Updated - - -

Hearthstone expansions will be released at a slower pace, maybe two per year. Team might be cut back a bit.

i expect zero touch in hearthstone at all, this game is the goose that give golden eggs to them, its profits is in millions% in compare to cost if not in billions
card games in general cost ~nothing to make yet generate insane profit, hearthstone will stay, not to mention it is always fun to watch the 'pure skill' of its players, specially the 'pro' who insist that the game actually need skill and not 'pure skill' due to its insane rng nature

[wrynil]

That Mr. Durkin sure is getting his money..

Playing that clip of Steve Jobs talking about downfall of quality in my head..

[owbu]

Probably the usual. Vague positive sounding "data"points that we can turn into our own "blizzard is dying"/"this is fine" headcanon.
Earning reports are basicly old gods.

[Lahis]

The earnings call will be abysmal. They'll spin it positive for investors with "We will now fire X amount of people to save Y dollars ti give out to you!"

[Teaon]

My expected fallout: Blizzard will back away a little bit from e-sports all around. Maybe some people layed off there related to social media and outreach. No idea about Overwatch itself. Blizzard could do worse than to open it up and allow it to be a single-person shooter by adding a game mode for it. Hearthstone expansions will be released at a slower pace, maybe two per year. Team might be cut back a bit.

The rest of the layoffs will be either in ATVI proper (including the entire Destiny team) and perhaps some of the administrative areas in Blizzard Entertainment. Look for administrative and social media areas where ATVI will handle things for Blizzard that they now handle with their own teams.

Little news about WoW. Emphasis increased on new product for 2019.

Caveat: I don't know anything more than anyone else. This is all guesswork but it makes sense to me.

Yeah doubt they are touching wow, with the tokens and cash shop, allied races and stuff, made the game stable, if not better than before, removing from it might be stupid