Activision Blizzard, the major publisher, has announced its quarterly results for the second quarter of 2019. How have player numbers for Blizzard’s games Hearthstone and Overwatch developed? And what is the status of subscriptions in the MMORPG World of Warcraft?
Activision Blizzard has announced its quarterly results for the second quarter of 2019. There are also some insights into player numbers for Blizzard’s big games. Activision Blizzard is announcing trends here.
What is the general situation? Things are not going super well for Activision Blizzard right now. After the announcement of the numbers for the quarter from April to June 30, 2019, the stock price fell by 3%.
Activision Blizzard had 1.4 billion dollars in revenue, which is slightly less than the 1.64 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2018.
For the third quarter of 2019, Activision Blizzard is providing an estimate that is below what Wall Street expects. Therefore, the stock price is struggling – the situation on the stock market is already difficult due to Trump’s warning about violent video games.
Blizzard stable in monthly active users
What are the player numbers? Blizzard had 32 million active users in the quarter. That’s the same as the last quarter.
It is said that players spent more time on Blizzard games per day compared to 2018.
Monthly active users are players who have logged in at least once a month. Activision Blizzard then adds the users over the three months and divides by three to get this value for the quarter.
Hearthstone wins – WoW and Overwatch stable
This is how Hearthstone is doing: The player count for Hearthstone has increased compared to the last quarter. This is due to the expansion “Rise of Shadows” and the single-player adventure “The Dalaran Heist.”
Activision Blizzard further states that revenue has increased.
This is how Overwatch is doing: Here, the player count has remained “relatively” the same. Activity increased after the release of the workshop.
Activision Blizzard highlights the Overwatch League. Here, the hours watched have increased compared to 2018. Over the season, the audience and the minutes each person watches on average have increased by double digits percentage-wise.
WoW Classic and Azshara bring more subscriptions
What about subscriptions for WoW? It is reported that the number of subscribers for WoW has increased since mid-May, after the release date and beta for World of Warcraft Classic were announced and the content update “Rise of Azshara” was released.
Activision Blizzard has not provided specific subscription numbers for WoW in some time.
Because the numbers for Hearthstone, WoW, and Overwatch increased or remained the same, while the number of monthly active users stayed constant, it is assumed that titles like Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 have lost some players. However, Activision Blizzard does not provide details here.
No new games are coming right now
This is what’s behind it: Activision Blizzard is currently in a difficult situation. Already in February, Activision Blizzard caused a stir, when they laid off 800 people after a strong quarter.
Currently, too few new games are being released. For 2019, Activision Blizzard has little major aside from the annual Call of Duty in the pipeline.
They are now repeatedly saying that they are working to develop more new brands and games and therefore expanding the teams. But this all takes time.
Waiting for Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4
This is the new announcement: CEO Bobby Kotick has now stated that Activision Blizzard has prioritized investments in key franchises in the first half of 2019. In the second half of the year, players might see the first results of these investments.
What’s next? Based on rumors, it is assumed that this year at BlizzCon 2019, two new Blizzard games, Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, will be presented. When they will come is still up in the air.
There has also been little news about Diablo Immortal lately.
In the investors’ call, Activision Blizzard also announced that new brands are being developed across various business areas, including at Blizzard:
