Activision Blizzard profits hit $1.1 billion in 2012
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Full-year revenue hits $4.86 billion, with profits at an all-time high; World of Warcraft subscriber base falls to 9.6 million; Skylanders series mints $1 billion worldwide; Diablo III sells 12 million.
Activision Blizzard today reported full-year and fourth-quarter 2012 results, revealing yearly profit jumped to a record $1.1 billion. Net revenue for the year hit $4.86 billion, also a record for the game publisher. As for the fourth quarter ended December 31, Activision Blizzard posted revenue of $1.77 billion and profit of $354 million.
The company's digital business was a major contributor to its bottom line in 2012, with revenue hitting a record $1.6 billion. This represents 32 percent of all revenue.
Blizzard Entertainment also revealed today that World of Warcraft subscriptions have fallen from 10 million by the end of September to 9.6 million as of December 31. Despite the drop, the game remains the number one subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the company said.
In addition, Activision announced that the Skylanders franchise has now netted more than $1 billion at retail since launch in 2011. This is substantially higher than the $500 million in total revenue the company announced earlier this month, though that figure only factored in sales in the United States.
Blizzard Entertainment also updated sales figures for Diablo III, revealing that the dungeon-crawler has sold-in (i.e. shipped) 12 million copies as of December 31, up from 10 million last year.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
73 comments
so WoW lost 400k subs and Diablo 3 sells 12 mil? Activision must glad blizzard is in there corner..
I'm still utterly baffled at how they get so much money. How can a low quality FPS be that popular ? I mean I've bought the first Modern Warfare and it was good, but after playing MW2, World at War and Black Ops with friends...fuck it's just the same thing, and it's not even quality! The Multiplayer isn't even close to being balanced and doesn't require the slightest bit of skill. I mean sure it's entertaining for a while, but in so many games in such a short amount of time ? Fuck. And that's not mentioning WoW still running so well and Skylanders. I feel bad for studios that actually put effort into their games.
Neither one of them got my money, they only got yours because you are foolish enough to support them.
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Don't worry GameSpot you don't have to delete this. Blizzard is simple make games people want to play. Be innovative and fresh and create a community that dosn't nessessaly revovle around pop culture. Be the best of the best in the buiss and let your experience reflect your work. Geniuses run this company and think way beyond the aspect of current gen gaming.
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2 Like Business mindedly I have to admire activision for milking these franchises to death and making the amount of money that they make. (They could make more from skylanders if they made the characters available in blind packs like pokemon cards etc have done in the past and continue to do)
As a gamer I think they are generally the worst kind of business....... Hate the business ploy of skylanders targetting children in the way it does and Call of Duty (With many children buying it too) with its annual releases that makes millions despite the fact I personally am thoroughly bored of them and I know many others are. Pity there is no actual innovation with many of Activision's releases. But then again if they continue to earn this much money from the same old same old why change there ways?
You would think that with that kind of cash, they would've been able to make a better Diablo 3. So so so disappointed.
Their biggest incomes were in 2012 Wow+expansion,Copy paste Cod,lazyiablo 3. Inovative they say
Well Done Activision Blizzard u r an extra efficient.. i just wanna say Blizzard that put some money for the hardware manufacturing i dont say console but i want a keyboard specifically designed for WoW..
WOW > Diablo3
where is Blizzards logo???
@MrDouglas Activision is much daring than Blizzard as it has launched too many new IP's within a decade and now ready to launch DESTINY developed by Halo creator Bungie hope it will be more different than COD as most of audience r fully fedup of COD but Blizzard hasnot been developed any new IP since last decade there is also a rumor that Blizzard is working on concealed MMO project name TITAN so we have a better hope for the future. Just compare Activision to Blizzard Activision has more than 100 while Blizzard has only 3 100 Vs 3 LOL
This is why the success of iOS is so important. Indie devs are the future, even if the iPad and iPhones are in their technological infancy (i.e., graphical capabilities).
@SteelVelocity I actually count on Android development and the Ouya rather than on the iOS. And even if Indie devs take more and more place, they're not the future, because they'll never have the same funding, they're just bringing in a new aspect to the industry, which is awesome.
10 Like Good for Activation. Nice to see some companies making profit among so much doom and gloom in the industry. Rip THQ.
Well it's not hard to see that making diabolically-addictive games generates revenue, what our concern should be is how to get them out of our lives and I guess sending an unambiguous message that we aren't idiots and don't want to have a game ruin our life or violently seize control of our minds.
1 Like @tgwolf I was going to call you an idiot but you must be into some weird shit. Get some help.
5 Like WoW is just a mindblowing success at this point, especially with the way the sub model has crumbled around them and yet they still manage to pull in absurd numbers for a 9 year old game.
There are things about Blizz I don't appreciate, but its hard to deny they have the magic formula. To think, they are achieving all this crazy success on a single platform, too.
1 Like Over a billion dollars in profit...that just makes me...horribly...horribly sad. What does this go to show? That non-innovative games, nickel and diming, and business before fans is the way to success in the games industry. Activision does well because the consumers support them, and therefore their practices are what we are going to see more of in the future. They have thrived off of this model for over 5 years, and there are no signs that it will catch up to them anytime soon. Face it, gaming as we know and love it is just about dead.
@vochelli You know what else is sad? Companies that make real games like Sony, Nintendo, Capcom, Square Enix, and many many others are losing money right now while Actipoop just prints money. ugh. I hate people.
6 Like @Stonecutters908 @vochelli Are you joking about Square Enix and Capcom? Square Enix puts out shit each year and there is nothing innovative about their games. They ruined Front Mission in the West. They have run the FF series to the ground, how exactly are they a good company?
Capcom is a joke. They put out the same fighting game out and even disc lock content in which they nickel and dime you to have it open up. Capcom is the worst when it comes to nickel and diming their customers.
What other companies out there would you like to mention that are losing money? EA? They make bad games and have a terrible attitude towards their customers.
Ugh, I hate people with no clue.
The biggest problem I have with ActivisionBlizzard is that for all the profit they make each year they make minimal effort in making their games better. Hell they are not even raising the value of their stock which is the biggest travesty in all of this.
2 Like @Addice @Stonecutters908 @vochelli As much as I agree with you, they are going with the motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Stagnation is the new innovation it seems.
1.1 billions? Holy crap, I think that could be more profit than ALL the other publishers combined.
1 Like Now take some of that profit and take some risk with a new IP, or fund something like Psychonauts 2 that is not a sure thing.
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