The business report from Activision Blizzard for Q3 2020 is here. There are statements about WoW, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and Diablo Immortal. Player numbers are also mentioned. Notably, the MMORPG classic World of Warcraft is said to be doing exceptionally well. And Diablo Immortal will finally launch.
Source of the information: Activision Blizzard has published its quarterly report for Q3 (via investor.activion).
The results are better than expected. This is mainly attributed to Call of Duty: The combination of Mobile, the free-to-play game Warzone, and Modern Warfare is very impressive. Such a thing has never been seen before, they joyfully announce.
These are the major revenue drivers: Activision Blizzard is particularly proud of 3 brands. They have 3 game series, each generating over a billion US dollars in revenue per year:
- Call of Duty – with Mobile, Modern Warfare, and Warzone
- World of Warcraft – with the retail MMORPG and with Classic
- and Candy Crush – with candies and microtransactions
More pre-sales of Shadowlands than for any expansion before
This is how it looks for WoW: Blizzard has a total of 30 million active users per month calculated for Q3. An active user is counted as someone who logs into any Blizzard game at least once in a month.
World of Warcraft is expected to have the same numbers in 2020 as in 2019. The game has “remained stable”. This is surprising, because the hype around WoW Classic was so great in 2019. If the player count remained stable from 2019 to 2020, it is a great success for Blizzard, as they managed to convert the more short-term hype into long-term success.
It is further stated that the “engagement with the game series” is at the highest level before an expansion appeared in the last 10 years. For Shadowlands, there were more pre-sales than for any other expansion.
Apparently, Shadowlands is extremely well-received. This seems to be something many are looking forward to. Normally, activity in WoW before an expansion hits a low point. However, this low point in 2020 is particularly high:
- This could be due to WoW Shadowlands being extremely well-received with a story that brings back old heroes and introduces the new world
- or it could simply be that Shadowlands is the first expansion where WoW Classic is still running parallel, which drives the numbers up
Player numbers for Overwatch at 10 million per month
This is how other Blizzard games are doing: Hearthstone grew in Q3 when compared to 2019. The “Battlegrounds” mode is well-received, Blizzard reports.
Overwatch had 10 million active users monthly in the third quarter, four years after release. The shooter continues to thrive, even though the development pace has slowed significantly.
Blizzard has been focusing on Overwatch 2, the successor with a PvE focus.
Diablo Immortal is finally set to start testing
This is what Blizzard is doing next: It is said that the teams are internally working on “multiple products in the Diablo game series.” This apparently refers to Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal. External tests for the mobile game are supposed to start soon. So we might really be able to play it soon.
Diablo Immortal seems to be stuck in some sort of development limbo for months now .
Additionally, they are planning “exciting innovations for Overwatch” – apparently referring to Overwatch 2.
As the CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, explains, they aim to hire 2,000 new developers to fuel the many new projects at Activision Blizzard. This follows the layoff of 800 employees in 2019 – they were in “non-development roles,” where they cut back.
Finally, the Blizzard headquarters in Europe, located in Versailles, has been closed.
WoW is still doing great more than 15 years after its release. WoW is probably the most important and influential MMORPG ever in the West. However, during its long reign, it has always been challenged by new, younger MMORPGs:
The 5 biggest “WoW killers” that were ultimately killed by WoW
