In a recent financial report for Q4 2021, Activision Blizzard celebrates its diverse successes in games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, or Diablo II Resurrected. However, the cheering reports do not match the bare numbers, as Blizzard alone loses 2 million players compared to the last quarter.
What number are we talking about?
- The number is called “MAU”, the monthly active users.
- This number is heavily skewed in favor of the company: If a person logs into any game for even one second in a month, that person counts as “one active user.” If a person logs into two different games, they are counted as “two users.”
- Activision Blizzard determines the quarterly numbers by counting the monthly active users and then dividing by the number of months in the quarter.
How is the number developing at Blizzard? The number has developed poorly since 2018:
- In Q3 2018, Blizzard still had 38 million active users.
- In Q4 2020, there were only 29 million users left.
- In Q3 2021, there were still 26 million users.
- Now the number has fallen to 24 million users in Q4 2021.
Blizzard has lost two million active players in three months and five million players in the last year.
Blizzard Celebrates Its Games with Success Reports
So here are the success reports from Blizzard: The actual reports that Blizzard puts out do not match these numbers. They are exclusively success reports.
It says:
- WoW had the strongest engagement in a decade in a year without a new expansion. This is credited to the combination of WoW and WoW Classic, which drives the numbers up.
- Hearthstone has grown compared to the previous year because new content is always being added.
- Diablo II Resurrected is Blizzard’s most successful remaster, measured from the release in September to the end of 2021.
Many Problems Hide Behind the Celebration
Where are all the players being lost? Blizzard does not reveal this, but it can be assumed that WoW is in a relatively poor state and players are quitting or at least pausing until the next expansion, 10.0.
Overwatch has fallen into a deep slumber, with little happening for years while waiting for Overwatch 2.
Diablo II Resurrected faced so many issues in the online mode at launch that its success surely wasn’t fantastic either.
Additionally, the huge sexism scandal has loomed over the company for months like a heavy shadow.
After the last financial report in November 2021, the stock fell by several percentage points because the potential hits Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 were delayed. Meanwhile, the situation at Activision Blizzard is completely different:
Activision Blizzard explains why they had to sell themselves instead of buying EA
