In the new quarterly report for Q4 2022, Activision Blizzard discusses the figures and successes of the past year. The Blizzard division can report a significant increase in players and substantial profits, particularly with World of Warcraft and Overwatch. The upcoming Diablo 4 is set to kick off the new fiscal year.
Where does the information come from? Activision Blizzard has published its quarterly report for Q4 2022 (via investor.activision).
Unlike before, there was no “call” where questions could be asked, but only the report itself, which is why the information is a bit lean. According to Activision, this is due to the planned acquisition of the company by Microsoft.
The figures paint a rather positive picture for the company, showing growth in revenues and players over the past year. Blizzard alone has nearly doubled the number of active users compared to the previous year.
Overall, Blizzard had 45 million monthly users in Q4 2022. In December 2021, there were still 24 million. However, a player counts twice for each game they log into.
These are the successful Blizzard games: The report mainly mentions Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo as the driving franchises, each of which has generated over 100 million US dollars. In WoW, there were 2 new releases: WotLK Classic and Dragonflight.
Overwatch has been a great success with the release of Overwatch 2 and the switch to Free2Play. In the last quarter alone, the game generated as much money as never before in Overwatch.
Diablo Immortal has also been a driving force despite the significant criticism of its payment model. Only the separation from the Chinese partner NetEase is a setback, which they hope to overcome.
The Diablo franchise is an important pillar for Blizzard. The fourth part is set to be released in 2023 – that’s how it looks for now:
Dragonflight is well received, retaining more players than the last expansions
The new WoW expansion Dragonflight has received special mention. Although it did not sell as well as Shadowlands did back then, it has kept players better.
The feedback on Dragonflight has been extraordinarily positive, and Blizzard plans “significantly more follow-up content for the expansion than in the past”, some of which has already been shown in an earlier roadmap for WoW.
Dragonflight has excited many players and is preferred by most over Shadowlands. In the trailer, you can see the most important features of the new expansion:
Despite Blizzard’s success, the department still makes up only the smallest part of the company. Activision, and especially King (Candy Crush), have significantly more monthly players.
For 2023, Diablo 4 is expected to play a significant role. A “substantial investment in development and marketing” is planned. Diablo 4 will be released on June 6, 2023, making it the first major title for Activision Blizzard in the fiscal year 2023, which starts in April.
In our hub, you can find all information about Diablo 4.
