Destiny Has 9.5 Million "Registered Users," Activision Says

Just how sell is Bungie's recently released shooter Destiny selling? We now have some idea, as Activision Blizzard today announced that, to date, Destiny has "more than 9.5 million registered users."

Not only are Destiny's ranks deep, but gamers are spending loads of time with the game. According to Activision Blizzard's data, "active" Destiny users are playing the game for more than three hours per day on average.

Destiny launched on September 9 across Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. The game grossed more than $325 million in its first five days. Activision maintains that Destiny is the biggest new IP launch of all time. The game also "ranks among the top 10 largest video game launches of all time in the United States," the publisher says.

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said various other Destiny engagement trends are proving positive, including the number of players across all game modes, as well as peak concurrency levels.

In terms of financials, Activision Blizzard posted $1.17 billion in revenue for the quarter ended September 30. This is up significantly from the $657 million that the publisher hauled this quarter last year. The company also saw profits increase year-over-year, rising from $90 million last year to $173 million this year.

Activision Blizzard also reiterated that World of Warcraft had 7.4 million subscribers as of September 30, while Heartstone: Heroes of Warcraft has now reached 20 million users.

Digital sales played a major role for Activision Blizzard during the quarter, coming in at $505 million, or about 43 percent of total revenues. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick offered a statement about the company's better-than-expected results today.

"In addition to new content releases of Skylanders Trap Team and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, next week Blizzard Entertainment plans to launch World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor," Kotick said. "Today, we have some of the most important franchises in entertainment and we expect to continue growing our product portfolio in 2015 with two additional franchises--Call of Duty Online, which we expect will enter an unlimited beta test, including virtual item sales, in China during the first quarter, and Blizzard Entertainment's Heroes of the Storm."

"Looking ahead, we have more opportunities than ever before to fuel our growth by creating great content using new platforms and business models while also expanding into new geographies," he added. "We are embracing all of these growth opportunities with the same commitment to excellence that we have demonstrated over the past 23 years."

Activision Blizzard has a few big-name game releases in the pipeline. Following Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's release today, the company will release the Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft on November 13, while Destiny's The Dark Below add-on will arrive on December 9.

Activision Blizzard also announced today that it is raising its full-year net revenue outlook from $4.7 billion to $4.8 billion.