Activision Blizzard’s first quarter 2022 financial resultshave revealed a substantial decline in net revenue, which sunk over $500 million from $2.27 billion in Q1 2021 to $1.76 billion in the equivalent period in 2022.
Lower results for Call of Duty and “product cycle timing” at Blizzard are cited as the primary drivers for the loss, as well as a modestly phrased “increase in legal and other professional fees, primarily driven by costs associated with our proposed transaction with Microsoft”.
Hail the king
Despite declines across the rest of Activision Blizzard, King’s in-game net bookings increased eight per cent year-over-year, with Candy Crush remaining the top-grossing game franchise in US app stores.
Net revenue from external customers by segment – Activision, Blizzard, and King – shows not only the mobile games studio as not only the only division to experience growth between 2021-2022 ($609 million to $682 million), but also the extend of Activision ($891 million to $453) and Blizzard’s ($458 to $265) declines.
Net revenue by platform revealed “mobile and ancillary” ($807 million) to be almost twice as profitable as console ($484) and PC ($383).
Tellingly, monthly active users (MAUs) for King (250 million) were more than double that of Activision and Blizzard combined (100 and 22, respectively).
Unsurprisingly, King was also the key success in Activision Blizzard’s performance throughout 2021 – a record period for the mobile mogul – overall, a period that was described by as “below [Activision Blizzard's] prior outlook”.
