14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Activision Blizzard says that it might have posted a smaller revenue for the first quarter of the year than for the same period in 2013, but it does have a strong line-up for the rest of 2014 that will ensure that its financial results keep improving.
For the three-month period that ended on March 31, the company announced that its revenue was 1.11 billion dollars (834 million Euro), which is a decline of 25 percent over the same period of last year.
Still, the announced financial performance was better than analysts expected and Bobby Kotick, the chief executive officer of the company, explains that digital sales, which have increased by 34 percent, show how the company plans to approach the future.
The executive is quoted by VG247 as saying that, “Our better-than-expected performance was driven by record digital sales in Blizzard Entertainment’s franchises, including World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft which has more than 10 million registered users as of its March 11 launch on Windows and Mac, in addition to Activision Publishing’s Skylanders and Call of Duty franchises.”
Activision says that it was the leading publisher in both North America and in Europe for the first quarter of this year and that it has a solid launch line-up for the coming months that should secure its overall position.
Kotick adds, “We have a strong product pipeline for the balance of the year, beginning with the September 9 the planned launch of Destiny, which we believe could become our next billion dollar franchise and the largest new videogame IP launch in history. Skylanders: Trap Team and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare are expected to be released on October 5 and November 4, respectively.”
The new Skylanders title introduces a new version of the Power Portal and gives fans a chance to use the villains of the game in their quests for the first time.
The new Call of Duty title is being created by Sledgehammer Games and allows players to control a player in the near future when a Private Military Company launches attacks on all armed forces in the world using futuristic tech including exoskeletons.
Activision says that it has big expectations for the Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft, which is set to be delivered for the Blizzard-made MMO before the end of the year, although an official date has not yet been announced.