A new class wouldn't have any impact on the game until Q4 2020, Q1 2021. I don't understand what you're trying to say - Q1 is two months away, how would a class announcement have any impact, at all, except possibly pre-orders?
You can't use player expectation to look at these presentations. This is for investors, not players.
Now, what they said:
~We have more players
~Interest is returning
~We have long term focus, not short term
Sounds good. But what the investors might be looking at is:
~Where is income coming from in 2020?
~No new titles for at least 8-9 months, with the release of Shadowlands, possibly years with Diablo 4
~No release dates for existing products at their showcase at Blizzcon
ATVI is mainly attractive as a dividend stock. It's held by a lot of 401ks, as a result, the big traders for Fidelity and Blackrock hold ATVI, and pass it along to their customers. It's not a star in the day trading world, as it doesn't swing up or down, like nVidia or AMD. So, they're looking at the dividend for the next year. Will classic and retail - the primary form of income for Blizzard right now - be enough to hold up Blizzard's end of the ATVI stock?
Classic may have given them some breathing room, but it's another year of relying on the cash shop and Hearthstone packs for income if interest subsides. But that monthly sub and the cash shop is where the cash is.
For the Activision side, Call of Duty is also selling, and paying the bills.
But.
“Recent launches have enabled significant growth in the size of our audiences for our Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises,” CEO Bobby Kotick said in the earnings release.
Sounds good Bobby. But what are the expectations to keep that audience?
Kotick said management believes that as the company introduces more free-to-play titles based on popular franchises, Activision can increase the size of its audience and improve engagement and monetization across its franchises.
•Free to play
•monetization
Lootboxes and cash shops is the way forward for ATVI. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
“With a strong content pipeline and momentum in mobile, esports and advertising, we are confident we will remain a leader in connecting and engaging the world through epic entertainment,” he added.
So, the future for all of ATVI is mobile games (blech), esports (meh), and...advertising. And a pipeline that has no release dates and is far in the future for release.
Well.
The stock is down, and remains down in after hour trading. I'm not shocked. The analysts are meh on it, because while they beat expectations, the future of the companies they hold are unclear, with a distinct lack of new IPs and titles, which is usually the foundation of big growth for a company. They may hold steady with monetization, but they're not looked at as a rising star anymore, and are looking more stagnant in the gaming space. When D4 ships, it'll be a (hopefully) big payday. When Overwatch 2 ships, it'll be a (hopefully) big payday. When Shadowlands ships...well, who the hell knows. When Activision ships...anything, it'll be a big payday. And it's interesting King didn't get much mention in the presentation. I haven't looked at the whole thing yet, but they did make a big passle of money, and I'm sure they're not going broke any time soon, but as for growth...
Magic 8 Ball sez: uncertain.
New classes? Irrelevant, in the bigger picture.