At Activision Blizzard, there were two major topics in the new financial report: microtransactions and new mobile games. Although they did not want to confirm WoW Mobile yet, there is hardly any doubt that the journey is heading in that direction. A WoW Mobile or Warcraft Mobile could potentially be released as a strategy game.
What was the occasion? Last week, Activision Blizzard presented its financial report for the quarter from July 1 to September 30, 2019, and discussed the numbers with investors and analysts:
- We have already reported that the subscription numbers of WoW have risen more than ever before – but this was not due to modern WoW, but to WoW Classic
- Activision Blizzard announced that it had made $709 million from microtransactions during that period – especially the microtransactions in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 performed strongly
- Additionally, Activision Blizzard clearly stated in the earning call that they are moving strongly towards mobile
Strong brands should attract players
This is the statement: The Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard, Coddy Johnson, stated: Already, a third of the revenue comes from the mobile sector. They are the company with the largest presence in mobile gaming in the West.
The company is looking at every franchise to see if the brand has the potential to come to mobile.
The brand recognition is important. You can see that clearly. Brands reach hundreds of millions of players. If they address the players correctly, they would be willing to come.
“Mobile is a massive opportunity for us. And we are not just thinking about Call of Duty, and it will not just be Diablo Immortal.”
Coddy Johnson, COO of Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard plans 3 types of games
What are Blizzard’s approaches? According to Johnson, they are planning 3 types of games:
- Games should “build on existing gameplay” – an example of this is Call of Duty: Mobile
- Then there will be games that “rethink existing PC and console titles” – an example is Hearthstone, which reimagined Warcraft
- The third area is “true cross-platform titles” – games that work the same on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile
First-Person Action and Strategy are performing strongly worldwide
What games are specifically coming? When asked if WoW Mobile or Overwatch Mobile are in planning, Coddy Johnson did not provide a specific answer. He did not want to confirm that.
However, it was mentioned that all brands are being considered.
Johnson also emphasized that strategy games and first-person action games are the most successful globally. This fits well with their portfolio.
Moreover, they are becoming increasingly capable of developing mobile titles.
Overwatch Mobile and WoW Mobile are closely positioned as new games
Here’s what it’s about: “More mobile” is the directive that Activision Blizzard has been issuing for about 3 years. Observers wonder why so few mobile titles have been released so far. Not even Diablo Immortal, which was prominently presented in 2018, is live, but still in production.
If one has good intentions, one might conclude: Activision Blizzard apparently aims for high quality and does not just want to pump out mobile titles en masse; otherwise, we would have already seen the first mobile titles based on Blizzard brands in 2018.
The plan is clear:
- The strong games brands should open up mobile core gaming in the West – Activision Blizzard wants to be a pioneer
Activision Blizzard has apparently identified two mobile genres that are performing well worldwide:
- First-Person Action (PUBG Mobile) – this is well covered by Call of Duty Mobile. Perhaps Overwatch Mobile could be a second option here
- and strategy games (Clash of Clans) or the collectible hero RPG Fate/Grand Order – here, Warcraft actually presents itself as a “strong brand”.
Blizzard has reportedly been working on a strategy title for mobile that fits into this framework since 2017, back then looking for people for a “MMO real-time” strategy game (via neogaf).
For the past 3 years, Activision Blizzard’s business reports have pointed in this direction: to bring their strong brands to mobile.
It is really only a matter of time before a “WoW Mobile” or “Warcraft Mobile” is released as a strategy game in some form. With the well-known characters from WoW – in a different game principle.
Such titles are often considered “Pay2Win” and rely heavily on microtransactions. It will be interesting to see how Activision Blizzard handles this.
