Activision Blizzard Made $700 Million From Microtransactions In Latest Quarter

Just like Take-Two, gaming giant Activision Blizzard is making lots and lots of money from microtransactions. The company confirmed in its earnings report that its microtransactions, which are called "in-game net bookings," amounted to $709 million USD for the quarter ended September 30.

This is down by $323 million, or 31 percent, from the $1.032 billion that Activision Blizzard made from microtransactions during the same quarter last year. Check out the chart posted below to see a rundown of the numbers and comparisons to previous quarters.

Activision singled out Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 as a big success story for microtransactions during the quarter. Revenue from the sale of in-game items in Black Ops 4 "grew sharply" compared to Call of Duty: WWII during the same period last year.

One reason that total microtransaction revenue might have dropped year-over-year is that Activision no longer publishes the Destiny franchise. That series features numerous microtransaction opportunities including emotes, currency, and more.

Activision's microtransaction strategy has been at times controversial. For Black Ops 4 specifically, some players remarked that the game's microtransaction system pushed players toward spending extra money. Just this week, Activision announced that it is changing how the Black Market works to be more player-friendly. Some scoffed at the timing, given these welcome changes come at a time when a portion of the playerbase has moved on to the new game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Modern Warfare's microtransactions are currently limited to just one item: a calling card that players can buy to support charity. Activision will add more microtransactions to the game in December with the launch of the first Battle Pass.

Activision Blizzard is a giant company with multiple business divisions that each individually contribute to microtransaction revenue. The Blizzard unit benefited from the launch of WoW Classic during the period, while the mobile/social game unit, King, sells numerous microtransactions and operates an in-game advertising business for Candy Crush.

Microtransactions are big business at many big game publishers. In its own earnings report, Take-Two announced that it made more than $300 million from microtransactions during the latest quarter thanks to games like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.