Blizzard continues to be one of Activision’s biggest assets, as the publisher proved when it revealed its second quarter results for year 2017 today. It noted that Blizzard has an all-time high number of monthly active users, specifically 46 million of them, across its games.
That is up 38 percent year-over-year. Blizzard has major hits, including the team-based shooter Overwatch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC; and the digital card game Hearthstone for PC and mobile. Overwatch has been growing since its launch last May. It has 30 million players and achieved a record high number of monthly active users during the quarter.
Hearthstone’s monthly users also grew year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. This is thanks to Journey to Un’Goro, the April expansion that saw praise from the community for its unique cards and balanced decks.
Blizzard also has World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III, and StarCraft II in its stable. All of them continue to receive new content. Each are multiplayer games or offer extensive online features, making them evergreen titles that can keep players engaged for years.
For World of Warcraft, Activison noted that the multiplayer online game saw time spent by players grow year-over-year. This is thanks to the Legion expansion, which came out last August. Activision also said that Legion has been performing better than the previous expansion, Warlords of Draenor.
Both Overwatch and Hearthstone have content plans that should keep players busy for the future. Hearthstone’s next expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne, releases later this month. Overwatch just released its 25th hero, Doomfist, and the shooter is also planning its second Summer Games event, which will offer unique character skins and a soccer-based game mode.
