One of the world’s biggest video game publishers, Activision Blizzard, has reported a 15 percent decline in sales due to the underwhelming sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard. While the reported revenue still beat analysts’ estimate, the failure of one of its most important franchises paints a clear picture of what gamers are after these days.
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Activision Blizzard is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft for a record $68 billion, of course, the price of which is now coming into question with the latest results posted. The company brought in adjusted revenue in the second quarter of $1.64 billion, compared with the average analyst’s projection for $1.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were 47 cents, almost 50% lower than a year earlier and slightly below analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Call of Duty: Vanguard was released in Q4 last year, and its failure pump out the same yearly sales expected for the franchise has had a massive ripple effect for the company into 2022. It also faced massive competition around its launch date from games like Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite.
The Blizzard division of the company is quite different – it has a smaller team and releases new games several years apart. That being said, its games have among the best following in the world with dedicated fans playing the games for many, many years. It released Diablo Immortal this year, a new mobile entry in the lauded series.
Activision said it expects revenue and earnings per share to “remain lower year-over-year in the second half.” The shares were up less than 1% in extended trading at $80.45. Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, a new entry in the series, will be released on October 28th. It will then launch a Warzone II soon after. The free-to-play battle royale game has made the company billions since its launch in 2020 and is hoping to reignite the magic with the new entry, expected in late November.
