The success of Activision Blizzard relies almost solely on Call of Duty following a tough fourth quarter and year-over-year dip in earnings.
The company released its year-end earnings report Thursday afternoon, and there are far less than a handful of positive takeaways. As reported by Activision, fourth-quarter net revenues fell 17% to $1.99 billion and net income dropped a whopping 23% to land at $525 million for the quarter.
Year-end numbers fared ever-so-slightly better. Net revenue was down 13% at $6.49 billion and net income dropped 19% to $1.5 billion. Monthly Active Users (MAUs), however, are on the rise. In the final quarter of the year, this number hit 419 million—a significant increase from the 316 MAU posted in Q3.
A slight bump in users at the end of the year can likely be attributed to the wildly popular mobile release of the studio’s flagship franchise, Call of Duty. The free-to-play game was released in October of last year and has already surpassed 150 million installs.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the 16th installment in the franchise, also hit stores in late October of 2019 and contributed to a 1% ($1.42 billion) uptick in holiday-quarter sales. Still, Activision’s revenue for the year saw a 10% decrease, putting the final number at $2.22 billion. The removal of destiny from Activision’s list of titles is cited for contributing to the year’s biggest losses.
The results of the report come as no surprise to Activision CEO, Robert A. Kotick, who already slated 2019 as a “transition year” for the company. Kotick sticks to his positive outlook, holding Call of Duty accountable for their present and future growth.
“Our fourth-quarter results exceeded our prior outlook for both revenue and earnings per share,” says Kotick. “Our recent Call of Duty success illustrates the scale of our growth potential, as we expanded the community to more players in more countries on more platforms than ever before. With our strong content pipeline across our franchises and momentum in mobile, esports, and advertising, we look forward to continuing to delight our players, fans, and stakeholders in 2020 and beyond.”
