On the economic level, Activision Blizzard continues to justify its status as the leading Western third-party publisher in the video game industry. The spectacular launch of Diablo 4 obviously has a lot to do with these amazing results. Halfway through, even before the release of the next Call of Duty, the group’s turnover reached 4 billion euros and net profit exceeded one billion euros. let’s remember that Diablo 4 was credited with a turnover of 666 million dollars after five days, enough to allow Blizzard to generate a billion dollars in a single quarter for the first time in its existence.
The results confirm that Diablo 4 was still the best-selling game in Blizzard history at the end of the first half, in other words as of June 30. ” Over 10 million players experienced Diablo 4 in June “, can we read. We also know that players accumulate 700 million hours on hack & slash, half of which are credited to Kelma and Kyujilo. And this is only the beginning for a title designed from the outset as a game-service to last as long as possible to the rhythm of the seasons. Taking advantage of this strong enthusiasm for the franchise, Diablo Immortal recorded in June its best results since January on smartphones and PC. The picture could have been perfect for Blizzard if Overwatch 2 hadn’t already seen a drop in player engagement and spending during the second quarter. Blizzard, however, is counting on the release of the Invasion update on August 10 … and probably also on the deployment of the game on Steam on the same day.
90 million people play Call of Duty
And meanwhile, Activision is no slouch. Capitalizing on the huge success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision saw its operating profit increase by 80% in the second half compared to the previous year, that of the disappointing Call of Duty: Vanguard. At the same time, Call of Duty Mobile remained stable compared to last year. Developed by Tencent’s TiMi Studios, the game has generated more than $3 billion since its release in October 2019. Today, mobile accounts for half of the Call of Duty franchise’s 90 million monthly active players. And it’s not over since Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, this time developed internally by Activision, is still in preparation. The franchise will celebrate its 20th anniversary this fall with the release of what should simply be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
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