Activision beats quarterly earnings target
Company brought in $981 million in revenue, well ahead of $860 million outlook from prior quarter
Activision Blizzard has announced its financial results for the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2009. The company reports revenues of USD 981 million, surpassing both its outlook from the previous quarter and analyst expectations.
At the end of the prior quarter, Activision reported a revenue outlook of only USD 860 million, a full USD 121 million below revenue reported today.
"Our better-than-expected first quarter results were driven by strong global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, despite challenging economic times," said Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick. "For the quarter, we were the number one third-party console and handheld publisher in North America and the number one third-party publisher for the Nintendo Wii platform worldwide, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk."
During the quarter, Activision staples Call of Duty and Guitar Hero were two of the five best-selling game franchises in the US and Europe. Guitar Hero World Tour, Activision reported, was the best-selling third party title across all platforms in the US, and the only third party Wii title to rank in the top five. On the PC, Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King was the NPD's best selling title on the platform for the quarter.
Looking to the future, Activision has raised its outlook for the 2009 fiscal year to USD 4.3 billion, up from 4.2 billion last quarter, though notes that this is "subject to risks and uncertainties" that include decline in product demand and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, among other factors.
"During the remainder of the year, we plan to release our strongest videogame slate, based on some of the industry's most profitable franchises. We are raising our calendar year 2009 financial outlook," said Kotick. "Additionally, we expect to deliver record calendar year non-GAAP operating margins of 25 per cent.
Our high-quality franchise portfolio, industry leading operational capabilities and solid balance sheet should enable us to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by the expanding interactive entertainment market and enable us to deliver continued superior returns to our shareholders."
Activision also announced its lineup for the current fiscal quarter, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Prototype, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, and Guitar Hero: Modern Hits.
Activision also announced that Guitar Hero 5 will be available in the Fall, along with franchise spin-offs DJ Hero and Band Hero.