Activision Blizzard Inc.'s stock price shot up as high as 10% in after-hours trading on Feb. 4 after the video game publisher announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue.
The Santa Monica-based company collected just over $2.4 billion in revenue in the final quarter of 2020, far above the $2 billion outlook the company provided in its prior earnings report.
Chief Executive Robert Kotick said in a statement that employees had overcome “a year full of adversity” to deliver “record financial results” for shareholders.
“Under difficult circumstances, but with the same conviction and focus, they will continue to do so in 2021,” Kotick said.
Earnings per share for the year amounted to 65 cents, compared to a prior outlook of 44 cents. Revenue for the year was nearly $8.1 billion, compared to just under $6.5 billion in 2019.
Activision Blizzard said 2020 was a record year for its “Call of Duty” franchise. The company unveiled a free-to-play version of the game early in the year, and in November released “Black Ops: Cold War,” the newest title in the long-running series.
According to the company, “Call of Duty” attracted more than 100 million monthly players on average last year as net bookings (a metric that includes sales and in-game purchases) rose by double-digit percentages.
The company also saw success with a new title in its “World of Warcraft” series, as well as addictive mobile game offerings like “Candy Crush.”
Activision Blizzard acquired “Candy Crush” developer King Digital Entertainment in 2016, and Activision said 2020 was a record year for the mobile game maker. King generated just under $2.2 billion in revenue last year and averaged 240 million monthly users.
The company predicted a slight increase in revenue for 2021 and said it expected the “Call of Duty,” “World of Warcraft” and “Candy Crush” franchises to continue to deliver strong results.
