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Activision-Blizzard April-June revs hit $1B, WOW near 11M

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jul 31, 2008 2:37 pm PT

Guitar Hero On Tour publisher April-June earnings top $654 million as profits double; former Vivendi properties take in around $347 million; World of Warcraft now boasts 10.9 million subscribers.

Though it received criticism on Monday for passing on some high-profile Vivendi projects, Activision Blizzard is having a banner week. Today, the newly merged company announced its first joint finances, which underlined its status as the new top third-party publisher.

For the quarter ending June 30, Activision took in $654.2 million in stand-alone net revenue, a 32 percent jump from the $495.5 million it earned last year. The former properties of Vivendi Games, which include World of Warcraft powerhouse Blizzard Entertainment, generated €223 million, or $347.8 million, during the same period, bringing total Activision Blizzard earnings to approximately $1 billion. Though currency fluctuations prevent a precise number, the lump sum is much more than the $804 million in quarterly Electronic Arts reported on Tuesday.

Regarding profits, Activision enjoyed solo net income of $59.0 million, more than twice the $27.8 million it took in the year prior. The company reported that, excluding merger and stock-compensation-related costs, profits would have almost tripled to $74.3 million. For its part, Ex-Vivendi Games properties reported 42 million ($65.5 million) in earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA).

With such massive numbers, Activision Blizzard executives weren't shy about touting their roster of hits. "Activision's June quarter stand-alone results were the highest ever for a nonholiday quarter, driven by...Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Kung Fu Panda and continued sales of our catalog titles," said Robert Kotick, CEO of the newly merged company, in a statement. According to the NPD Group, Guitar Hero: On Tour was the top title on the DS title for the quarter in the US, with a sequel announced at E3 2008 earlier this month.

Mike Morhaime, still-CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, also touted his $100-million-a-month shop's wares. "Since June 2007, World of Warcraft has grown its subscriber base by over 1.8 million, to 10.9 million players," he said, mentioning WOW's recent Latin American and upcoming Russian launches. The ubiquitous massively multiplayer game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, remains scheduled for release later this year. The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, launched in January 2007.

In a conference call with analysts after the report, Kotick said the combined company has a whopping $3 billion on hand, putting it in a prime position for "acquisitions." He also said that, according the NPD Group, Guitar Hero "is the biggest game franchise this year--even bigger than Grand Theft Auto--in terms of dollars."

57 Comments

  • ratavaquera

    Posted Oct 28, 2008 3:05 pm PT

    i still love Blizzard, WoW its the best and most played MMORPG

    Congratulations Blizzard from Mexico!

    (i stopped playing WoW 4 months ago , but WoW its so fun and addictive!)

  • valcrist09

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 11:06 am PT

    lol almost 11 million good lord... Im sure WOTWK will raise that even more.. I agree with VirginFingers AOC was the joke of the year, i got bored of it in less then a month... yeah it was bloody, but the gameplay was terrible and lacked major content.

  • VirginFingers

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 10:44 am PT

    Hah.... Age of Conan.... that was the jokeof the year.

  • Old_Gooseberry

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:16 pm PT

    not sure how wow is holding onto its people still, the game is a brutal chore. its depressing how much work it takes to get ahead

  • Iraqi_Gangster

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 12:19 pm PT

    I don't what is the fuss about WoW! I tried it over my friends house and it sucked like hell.
    I'd rather play a mature bloody game like Age of Conan over a cartoony game like World of Warcraft

  • jogunther

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 6:13 pm PT

    I play other MMo's than WoW not very immpressive, repetitive nonsens. Not saying it doesn't have a addictive gameplay.That said I've seen ppl wast a lot of money on WoW. No amount of cash beyond a billion would supris me.

  • rayjohansson

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 7:54 pm PT

    Why are people getting so upset and acting as if WOW is their mother or something? WOW's graphics are not amazing nor high end by any 2008 standard. However, some people may find their artistic style to be appealing. That argument makes more sense. I, personally, do not like the cartoon type imagery but can understand why someone would like it.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 5:02 pm PT

    I don't like WoW

  • mYslead

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 8:14 am PT

    i'm sure someone will find a way to mod it to the darker colors ...

  • Valauliver

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 10:13 am PT

    oh and jimmyjimjim if you have that attitude with every game, then I'm surprised you are even on this website, you must find every video game boring xD I doubt you like crappy linear games like Halo then eh? Oh wait I bet you do... mikwaish69 people don't get bored because its addictive, but most of all they play to get the best gear in the game which isn't an easy thing to do, but then Blizzard brings out new content for them to explore and new bosses for them to try down. And because its an easy place to make friends worldwide (well it is if your on EU, US can't really make worldwide friends xD). For me the main reason I play WoW loads is cause I want to be the #1 player - won't happen but hey.

  • cyborg100000

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 10:10 am PT

    WoW's graphics are perfect, how can you say they're out dated when no other game (except Warhammer) has graphics like it? WoW's graphics excel artistically a lot more than most other games and no. Unlike all these "state of the art graphics engines" they won't go out of date as fast.

    Also @Badash, what's your point about WoW's subscribers mainly in Asia? That's the same with every other MMO, except there's at least 50 times more westerners playing WoW than any other MMO.

    "meanwhille so many freaks are addicted to wow, they don't play other pc games and the pc game industry crumbles."

    Bullsht. People play WoW mainly because it's a fun game, therefore successful. And a lot of people do play games other than WoW, it's just that people play WoW a lot longer than any other game.

    "A stupid cartoon game with no substance, a basic everquest rip-off that took out all the interesting fun things to add hum drum easiness and the lowest number of races/classes and variety of any mmo."

    lol tbh just lol. Explain to me then, why it's constantly come in PcGamers (who have some of the best reviews i've ever seen) top 5 best games ever played (from the 1980's until now). Why it's scored at least 9/10 on most reviews (and for an MMO!). I'll say why. It's a fun game. And what else do you look for in a game?

  • Valauliver

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 10:03 am PT

    world69star69, WoW has graphics from 2001 because that was when it was first in development you idiot. And if you think graphics make a game you clearly are a fool, every single Blizzard Entertainment game has been a massive success and not one of them has had good graphics for their time - says a lot don't you think? Maybe you have a high specced PC with Intel quad core, 5GB RAM, HD ATI Radeon graphics card - GUESS WHAT? Most people do not have this and Blizzard know that, so they make thier game suitable for a WIDE range of PC's - oh look 10.9 million subscribers, seems to me that's what every single game developer for PC should do, Crysis is a complete failure, oh it looks good but I bet not many people have bought it. Metroidsax, 1. Activision don't DEVELOP games, they PUBLISH them for other DEVELOPMENT studios BIG DIFFERENCE. And Blizzard is not the one merging with Activision, it is Blizzard's publisher Vivendi Games - LEARN TO READ. Humourguy, you still get charged even if you cancel part way through month because people could then just cancel the subscription a day before the payment, then re-subscribe to refresh it, then monthly subscription people like Blizzard would never get any money - that doesn't require a lot of thinking to work out lol

  • xbox360progamer

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 9:54 am PT

    wow thats alot of money

  • world69star69

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 9:51 am PT

    All the stupid wow fanatics will mark your comment down if you talk crap on acti-blizzard. Fact is they are a greedy company, the new EA. While ea is doing the right thing now. Dropping two great titles when they have that much cash is ridiculous! Why don't they make something new. How many guitar hero games do you need? Rock Band is much better. Then there is blizzard with wow. The mmo has horrible 2001 quality graphics that can be run on my pentium 3 laptop, meanwhille so many freaks are addicted to wow, they don't play other pc games and the pc game industry crumbles. Between blizzard and microsoft they are both responsible for the state of the pc game market today. I wish ms never made xbox and people would stop going nuts over wow! A stupid cartoon game with no substance, a basic everquest rip-off that took out all the interesting fun things to add hum drum easiness and the lowest number of races/classes and variety of any mmo. All the damn dwarfs look the same and have ugly noses, the night elves are all purple and green and look gay What the hell, the gameplay is boring, its so slow to start. I just don't get it. If it wasn't for Diablo series or starcraft (or the warcraft series pre-warcraft3) i wouldn't have anything to do with them.

  • akazergling2

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 5:38 pm PT

    I disagree with GriffinLord602, if you don't enjoy WoW within the first couple minutes, you probably won't enjoy the really advanced side of the game either.

  • GriffinLord602

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 2:46 pm PT

    ... I never got into WoW thats for sure... I found the beginning to slow, and I know you gotta be patient with most MMO's to get into the good stuff, but I couldn't be bothered with it to be honest :L.

  • metroidsax

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 12:30 pm PT

    Activision and Blizzard, two of my favorite devs. I hope to see how things actually turn out.

  • BadAshJL

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 11:59 am PT

    Keep in mind that over half of WoW's subscribers are in asia and they pay significantly less to play the game than we do over here.

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