Activision Blizzard closes 2012 with record $4.86 billion
Skylanders and Call of Duty lead the publisher forward
Activision Blizzard has announced its financial earnings report for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012, ended on December 31, 2012. For calendar year 2012, the publisher pulled in record revenues of $4.86 billion, up from $4.76 billion in 2011. Digital revenue accounted for 32 percent of the company's revenue, totaling $1.54 billion.
For the fourth quarter, Activision Blizzard delivered a record net revenue of $1.77 billion, up from $1.41 billion in Q4 2011. The recorded revenue was ahead of the publisher's prior estimates of $1.49 billion.
"We are very pleased to report that Activision Blizzard delivered the best performance in its history. With better-than-expected net revenues, record operating margins and record earnings, and over $1.3 billion in operating cash flow, we continue to set the industry success bar. I would like to thank our incredibly talented employees around the world for their passion, drive and creativity, which continues to fuel our success," said Activision Blizzard chief executive officer Bobby Kotick.
Titles in the Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises led the company forward for the full year. Across all platforms in the United States and Europe, Black Ops II, Skylanders Spyro's Adventure, Skylanders Giants, and Modern Warfare 3 were the number one, number four, number five, and number nine titles in dollars, respectively. As of December 31, 2012, the Skylanders franchise has drawn in more than $1 billion in worldwide sales, with more than 100 million figures sold through January 2013.
Blizzard Entertainment also had two top ten PC titles in the US and Europe: Diablo III and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Diablo III sold 12 million units through the end of December and was the number one best-selling PC game, while Mists of Pandaria was the number three best-selling PC game.
"As we look to 2013, we will continue to invest in our established franchises, as well as several new properties. We expect these investments to drive our growth over the long term and to enable us to deliver superior returns to our shareholders in the years to come. In the short-term, we expect to continue delivering strong profitability, but below our record setting 2012 performance, due to a challenged global economy, the ongoing console transition and a difficult year-over-year comparison because of Blizzard's record-shattering Diablo III success in 2012," said Kotick.
Heading into the next year, Activision is expanding Call of Duty: Black Ops II with the Revolution downloadable content and Starcraft II with the Heart of the Swarm expansion. First quarter revenue is estimated at $1.16 billion, with calendar year 2013 coming in at $4.09 billion.
Activision shares rose to $12.69 in after hours trading on the earnings news.
[Image via Telegraph]
Some people don't like that.
But we would all be a lot better off with more like him running the major publishers.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Bruce Everiss on 11th February 2013 9:10am
Seriously! If this guy is your hero, then you really need to take a step back or have you conveniently forgotten all the closed studios that ultimately boosted the bottom line for Activision. This is a short term boost as you can never make the same cost saving twice.
So yep the share holders will be pleased and Evil K. can afford yet another house/farrari/yatch but at what ultimate cost to our industry!
If our industry did more of it then we would be a lot more vibrant and healthy.
Kotick is not sentimental. He puts resources where they will do the most good in an entirely pragmatic manner.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Andrew on 8th February 2013 9:37am
Nevertheless, market wouldn't allow to have more than 2 or 3 managers on-board because they would compete to the bone and nothing will remain.
Honestly, Bobby Kotick became CEO in summer 2008, when Call of Duty was already multi-billion franchise and WoW was going to third published release (Wrath of the Lich King). Exclude Skylander and there is nothing new he brough to the market. There is a clear difference of inventing and leading the venture or maintaining it.
But hey, let's see how he manages WoW slump and transition to the new generation and then we'll discuss his achievements. Or we'll see how he manages to perform in 2015 when WoW gets to 5-6 million customer, CoD would be tired franchise and Destiny will have... well, we don't know its destiny.
How does The Blast Furnace fit in with your view?
If all the industry managers were like Kotick then all developers would be happy because they would be working on successful projects that customers wanted.
Kotick became CEO of Activision in February 1991. Fact.
2008 was just the date of the Blizzard merger.
Holding creativity in this industry would never be a good idea, but apparently making games isn't meant to be fun anyway, fun being one of the main propellers of creativity and innovation.
I can respect his business drive, but he doesn't care about his consumers, something like this would never be done by someone that does.
Closing smaller studios which may not have made as big a profit is what Kotick does. Those studios may have been creating something ingenious that may not have sold like Call of Duty, but if you're not a homogenized game that appeals to the mass market, you have no place at Activision. This is a business strategy that does nothing for the industry in terms of moving forward creatively and expanding what is possible. This is what David Cage was talking about - an industry that can't move anywhere because its stuck marketing to teenagers, and people with teenage mentalities, where the vast majority of what is sold is just another version of you getting to stab and/or shoot things. If you're a shareholder, on the other hand, it's great, and that's who Bobby Kotick is running Activision for - the shareholders. He doesn't give two pisses if you think the games his company puts out are derivative and don't push the industry forward. That's what smaller companies are for who aren't looking to maximize profits as their first and only goal.
Call me Bobby. Lets do lunch.
Do you honestly think that people who work in the industry STOP working in it when a studio closes?
No, the ones who've spent the longest in the industry are pretty much guaranteed new jobs, regardless of talent. So pretty much the only people who get screwed are new talent at the bottom end, who don't have any say in the overall production of the game anyway.
But don't let reality get in the way of things.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Gareth Eckley on 24th March 2013 10:50am