Activision says microtransaction revenue for Black Ops 4 are higher than that of Call of Duty: WWII
Activision Blizzard is reporting their Second Quarter Results today for the company after the markets close, and as part of the press release, the company has shared some updates on their franchises overall.
CEO Bobby Kotick states that their investment to restructure the company earlier this year, which resulted in 800 employees losing their jobs, has started to take effect and they’re increasing the focus on development resources for their big franchises going forward.
“Our second quarter results exceeded our prior outlook for both revenue and earnings per share,” said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. “In the first half of 2019 we have prioritized investments in our key franchises and, beginning in the second half of this year our audiences will have a chance to see and experience the initial results of these efforts.”
Activision Blizzard outperformed our second quarter outlook, reflecting strong creative and commercial execution as we continued to reposition the business for future growth. Across Call of Duty®, Candy Crush™, Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, and Diablo®, we are expanding our development teams so that we can accelerate the delivery of content in our pipeline, pursue new business models, broaden our communities, and delight our players.
The company provided an update stating that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Monthly Active Users is higher than that of Call of Duty: WWII at this point in the year with play time double that of WWII.
Activision had 37 million MAUs. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 MAUs grew year-over-year versus Call of Duty: WWII, and hours played increased by more than 50%. Crash™ Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled enjoyed positive critical reviews and strong sales, particularly through digital channels.
In addition, Activision stated that microtransaction sales from in-game items is higher than that of WWII and will continue to exceed the total from WWII’s year.
For Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, net booking from in-game items grew year-over-year versus Call of Duty: WWII and are ahead of WWII on a comparable life-to-date basis.
Across all their franchises, for the second quarter of the year, Activision Blizzard made $800 million just from in-game net-booking sales.