Activision Blizzard, once known for its high-profile console and PC games, is now primarily a mobile game publisher. The recent success of Diablo Immortal combined with Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile helped mobile revenue reach 51% of total revenue by Q2 2022.
Most gamers don’t think of Activision Blizzard as a mobile company. Hearthstone and Candy Crush have been popular mobile games for several years, and Call of Duty Mobile made a big splash when it launched, with a total of nearly 88 million downloads in its first month of release.
Activision Blizzard used to be known only for PC and console games, mainly Call of Duty, Starcraft and World of Warcraft. It’s been a rough year for the company in general: in addition to the numerous ongoing lawsuits against the company for sexual harassment and abuse, as well as the furor surrounding its massive purchase by Microsoft for nearly 100 billion AUD.
In the second quarter of 2022, Activision Blizzard’s mobile games generated approximately A$1.2 billion, representing 51% of the company’s total quarterly earnings. Console games earned, comparatively, only AUD$540 million, and PC games earned just $500 million. In the mobile gaming section, the biggest winner was King, with 82% of all mobile revenue earnings at just under A$1 billion.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had this to say during the earnings call: “In addition, we expect to continue to provide ongoing content for several of our franchises. We will also continue to invest in opportunities that we believe have the potential to ‘drive our long-term growth, including continuing to leverage our advertising initiatives and investments in mobile titles.|
Activision Blizzard has no shortage of problems despite this massive growth. The company is accused of anti-union behavior towards one of its studios, hiring union-busting companies in the process. Activision Blizzard also recently dropped a World of Warcraft mobile game after some financial disagreements with its Chinese partner, NetEase.
Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.