It was a gigantic quarter for Activision Blizzard.
The publisher announced today that it achieved GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles, or earned) revenues of $2.01 billion, up a whopping 49 percent from the same period for last year, $1.35 billion. It’s a record fourth quarter performance for one of the world’s largest video game companies.
Activision Blizzard earned $6.61 billion for the full year. This is up 42 percent from 2015, which earned $4.66 billion.
“Our record performance in 2016 further strengthened our position as the world’s leading standalone interactive entertainment company,” Bobby Kotick, chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard, noted in the financial release. “For the quarter and the year, we delivered our highest revenues, non-GAAP redefined operating margins and earnings per share, well surpassing our own expectations.”
The stock market is reacting positively to the earnings.
Activision Blizzard stock up 9.5% after earnings.
Whew! pic.twitter.com/LT5qa4Ywpf
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 9, 2017
Activision Blizzard had 447 million monthly active users in the quarter. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the year’s best-selling game, was a big part of the publisher’s success. Blizzard alone contributed greatly, earning a record 41 million monthly active users. This includes players from Overwatch, the team-based shooter that came out in May and already has 25 million players. World of Warcraft saw a 10 percent increase in monthly active users thanks to the launch of its Legion expansion, while the digital card game Hearthstone grew its monthly active users by 20 percent in 2016.
King, the Candy Crush Saga mobile developer that Activision bought in early 2016, had 405 million monthly actiive users for the year and 355 million for the quarter. Both of those numbers were down year-over-year.
“The launch of Blizzard’s Overwatch created a major new franchise, while King’s mobile advertising tests are very promising as the basis for meaningful new revenue streams,” Kotick noted. “We accelerated our efforts in esports and consumer products, enabling more ways to celebrate and connect to our communities. Thanks to the strength of our established franchises and the vitality of our new initiatives, we are well positioned for growth in the years ahead.”
