Activision Blizzard looks back at Q3 2017. WoW, Overwatch, and Hearthstone performed well in summer 2017 – Heroes of the Storm was rather weak. The present looks bright, and the future seems to be in the mobile sector and with the really big franchises.
We already reported yesterday on Activision Blizzard’s investor call. It included much discussion about Call of Duty and Destiny 2. The numbers are strong. But what else is going on with the industry giant? How does Activision see its future?
Overwatch lives off events – 7.2 keeps WoW stable – Heroes of the Storm struggles
With Blizzard games, Activision praises strong player counts for Hearthstone and Overwatch. Overall, the numbers have fallen from 46 million to 42 million compared to 2/2017 – this is due to a weak Heroes of the Storm and a strong Q2.
- For World of Warcraft, the monthly player counts have remained stable. The last patch 7.2 was responsible for this. In World of Warcraft, exact player counts are no longer published.
- In Overwatch , the number of monthly users has increased compared to the previous year. This is thanks to the summer games and the Halloween event. The Overwatch community now consists of 35 million registered players. It’s known that events cause a significant increase in playtime and loot box revenues. Apparently, it also worked in 2017.
- In the card game Hearthstone, the expansion “Knights of the Frozen Throne” drove the monthly logged-in players up. Here, 2017 is looking better than 2016, with a double-digit percentage increase.
- Heroes of the Storm did not perform well. Monthly players have declined this quarter – the offensive in 2/2017 was significantly more successful. They revamped the loot system, modeled it after Overwatch, and ran crossover events with the shooter.
Strengthen established brands, enter mobile
Activision presents three major goals and developments for the future to investors.
- One is “That the big get bigger” – According to Activision Blizzard, the gaming industry is increasingly focusing on the really big titles. The top 10 titles of a year take an ever larger slice of the pie. Even within Activision, only a handful of brands (Call of Duty, Candy Crush, WoW, and Overwatch) accounted for 69% of revenues in 2016.
Therefore, it is important for Activision to have the top titles, strengthen these franchises, and establish new ones. The games-as-a-service approach is becoming increasingly important. The expectation for the future is that popular franchises will account for an disproportionately high share of revenues. Thus, it is vital for Activision that its top brands compete with the top brands of the competition. This will determine the future.
- Additionally, it will be more important to leverage the power of brands outside of games. For Activision Blizzard, the Overwatch League plays a significant role. They are also considering TV series or merchandise.
- The next big market is mobile. Due to smartphones and free-to-play games there, gaming has reached new age groups and new regions of the world. It is expected that the mobile market will surpass other segments of gaming. Activision has already brought in a specialist with Candy Crush developer King. But the other studios are also expected to develop mobile titles in the future.
Will we see Blizzard’s next mobile titles at Blizzcon 2017?
Recently at Blizzard, there have been signs that mobile games are to be launched in the future. Perhaps then with a big brand in the background. Maybe there will be first hints about such games at the currently starting Blizzcon.
Blizzard is working on strategy MMO – WoW meets Clash of Clans?
