Activision Blizzard Inc. outperformed earnings projections in the third quarter, reporting $1.95 billion in net revenues, up from $1.28 billion in the same quarter in2019.
The Santa Monica-based video game publisher had projected $1.8 billion in revenue for the quarter, but outperformed that forecast largely due to the success of recent titles in its signature “Call of Duty” franchise.
“Deep engagement in premium ‘Call of Duty’ content as well as the addition of free-to-play experiences across mobile, console, and PC, drove the number of monthly players in the community to over three times the year-ago level in this third quarter,” Chief Executive Robert Kotick said in a call with investors. “As the community engages, they consume more content,” he added.
The number of monthly players accessing Activision Blizzard games has declined since the summer, though it was still well above levels recorded in the third quarter of 2019.
The company reported that net income had risen to $604 million in the third quarter of 2020, up from $204 million a year earlier.
In that time, Activision released “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” along with “Call of Duty: Warzone,” a free-to-play companion to the game. The company reported that players of those titles spent seven times longer in-game during the last quarter than players of previous “Call of Duty” titles did a year ago.
The next game in the franchise, “Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War” is slated for release November 13.
The company also announced a new release date for “Shadowlands,” the next installment of its long-running “World of Warcraft” franchise. The game was originally scheduled to debut in October but will now be launched November 23.
