Overwatch 2 & Modern Warfare II Boost Activision Blizzard's Financial Results

Activision Blizzard has released its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the full financial year revealing strong financial results for the last three months of 2022, largely brought by the launch of Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

The company's revenue in Q4 2022 amounted to $2.3 billion, reflecting a 7.9% increase compared to the same period in 2021, and its bookings grew by 43.4% to $3.57 billion. Activision's net income in Q4 2022 was $403 million, down 28.5%.

During the full fiscal year, the company generated revenue of $7.5 billion, a decrease of 14.5%, while its bookings slightly increased – by 1.9% to $8.51 billion. Net income was $1.5 billion, a decline of 43.9%.

The company's Activision division saw significant growth in revenue and operating income in Q4 2022 – they increased by about 60% year-over-year. The company attributes this to the successful performance of Call of Duty across console, PC, and mobile and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in particular.

The company noted that Modern Warfare II's success can be partly attributed due to its wider availability – after the franchise was exclusive to Battle.net for several years, the latest installment was released on Steam.

In addition, Activision states that a significant part of the title's engagement was due to the DMZ game mode. The company reported 111 million monthly active users for the 3 months ending December 31st, showing a 3.7% year-on-year increase and a 14.4% rise from the previous financial quarter.

The revenue and operating income of the Blizzard division grew approximately 90% year-over-year in the last three months of 2022. The company noted that the Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo franchises experienced strong growth year-on-year, each generating over $100 million in net bookings.

Monthly users increased 87.5% YoY, reaching 45 million in Q4 2022. This represents a 45% increase from the previous quarter, which Activision attributes to the October 2022 launch of Overwatch 2 which switched to a free-to-play model.

World of Warcraft experienced growth in engagement and bookings in Q4 due to the November release of the Dragonflight expansion and September's Wrath of Lich King expansion for the Classic edition of the MMO. Additionally, the company claims that Blizzard's strong quarter was also influenced by Diablo Immortal, stating that "engagement and
player investment trends for the title were stable" in Q4.

Activision Blizzard's mobile-focused division, King, recorded Q4 revenue of $727 million, which represents a 6% increase. The division's operating income declined by 19.5% to $310 million, while its in-game bookings increased by 9%.

This performance is likely related to the anniversary celebration of King's main title, Candy Crush Saga, which turned ten years old in November 2022. The company reported a 20% YoY increase in in-game net bookings for the game during this time.

You can learn more by reading the full report here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform, our Reddit page, and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.