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Activision Q2 FY12: MW2 = 22M/BLOPS = 25M; WoW Loses 300,000 Subs; 900,000 Lost Total

Pooya

Member
press release

PR said:
Activision Blizzard Announces Better-Than-Expected Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results

- Q2 Net Revenues Up Year Over Year; Record EPS Increases Over 66% Year Over Year -
- For Six-Month Period Net Revenues Up; Record EPS Increases Over 50% Year Over Year -
- For Six-Month Period Net Revenues from Digital Channels Grow More Than 20% Year Over Year -

- Company Increases Full Year Outlook for Net Revenues and EPS -

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced better-than-expected financial results for the second quarter of 2011.

In the quarter, the company delivered record GAAP net revenues of $1.1 billion, as compared with $967 million for the second quarter of 2010. On a non-GAAP basis, the company's net revenues were $699 million, as compared with $683 million for the second quarter of 2010. For the second quarter, the company delivered record GAAP net revenues from digital channels, representing a 27% increase year over year, and accounting for 37% of the company's total net revenues. On a non-GAAP basis, record net revenues from digital channels increased 13% year over year, accounting for more than 60% of the quarter's total net revenues.

For the second quarter of 2011, Activision Blizzard's GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.29, as compared with $0.17 for the second quarter of 2010. On a non-GAAP basis, the company's earnings per diluted share were $0.10, as compared with $0.06 for the second quarter of 2010.

The company reports results on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. Please refer to the tables at the back of this press release for a reconciliation of the company's GAAP and non-GAAP results.

Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, stated, "Our better-than-expected second-quarter performance was driven by record digital sales of our online-enabled franchises. For the six month period, net revenues from digital channels grew more than 20%, driving record operating margin and EPS growth of more than 50%."

Kotick continued, "Looking to the balance of the year, while we have numerous releases we believe our audiences will be especially excited by three key properties -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3™, our new online service Call of Duty Elite and Skylanders Spyro's Adventure™ -- all of which are shaping up to be incredible. To date, pre-orders for Modern Warfare 3 have significantly exceeded the pre-orders for Black Ops at this time last year. In addition, we believe that Call of Duty Elite, which was built for Modern Warfare 3 and is expected to launch with the game on November 8, should redefine social connectivity for multiplayer gaming. Additionally, we expect that Skylanders Spyro's Adventure will change the way we look at toys and video games by bringing the world of toys, video games and the Internet together in an unprecedented way."

Kotick added, "Today, there are more ways than ever for players to access entertainment online and play games which have truly become one of the most compelling forms of entertainment in the world."

Business Highlights
•Call of Duty: Black Ops was the #1 game in the U.S. and Europe for the first half of 2011.(1)
•For the second quarter, Blizzard Entertainment had two top-10 PC titles with World of Warcraft®: Cataclysm™ and StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™.(2)
•To date, Call of Duty: Black Ops players have logged more than 2.2 billion hours of online gameplay.(3)
•Total unique online gamers playing Call of Duty: Black Ops were more than 30% greater than the total unique online gamers who played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 2 during the first eight months after each game's release.(4)
•On May 11, 2011, Activision Blizzard paid a cash dividend of $0.165 per common share to shareholders of record as of March 16, 2011.
•As of June 30, 2011, Activision Blizzard had purchased approximately 43 million shares of its common stock, for an aggregate price of approximately $479 million, under the $1.5 billion stock repurchase program authorized by its Board of Directors in February 2011.


Company Outlook


On July 28, 2011, Activision Publishing released the Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation™ content pack for Sony's PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and the PC. During the quarter, Activision Publishing also expects to release the Call of Duty: Black Ops Resurrection™ content pack for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Sony's PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and the PC, as well as X-Men™ Destiny, Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012 and a Kinect-ready title for the Xbox 360, Cabela's Hunting Party. Additionally, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was launched in China on July 12, 2011.


For calendar year 2011, Activision Blizzard is raising its outlook from the estimates it provided on May 9, 2011. Since Blizzard Entertainment has not confirmed a launch date for its next global release, the company's calendar year outlook at this time does not include a new game from Blizzard in 2011.

Notes from conference:
- Black Ops at 25m, MW2 at 22m shipped.
- WoW subscribers at 11.1m
- Blizzard is pushing to launch Diablo III this year, they will know after beta test. (thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439597)
- Diablo III real money item trading might come to Star Craft II in forms of selling maps (nothing announced)
- Modern warfare 3 is coming to Wii
- Modern Warfare 3 preorders ahead of Black Ops
- Mappack sales for Black Ops 40% ahead of MW2, 14m sold.

capture2xfqw.jpg

capturegdfx.jpg


Conference Call over.
capture3ldcg.jpg

capture5kon7.jpg
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
Such tasteful music during the wait period for the conference call.
 

HBroward

Member
They really hit it out of the park this quarter, looks like a ton of people bought the CoD map packs. And here goes the conference call.
 

cuyahoga

Dudebro, My Shit is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time
Is Cabela's Hunting Party the bizarre minigame-riffic/hunting sim/cartoon crossover everyone's been waiting for?
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
So it doesn't sound like there will be Diablo 3 this year beyond the beta, which is weird for how early in the year it's coming.
 

HBroward

Member
Diablo 3 could still be this year, they just aren't factoring it into the projections, that way if it does release, they get to say, "Look how much we beat expectations!" I wouldn't read too much into it. If they did factor it in, and it got delayed, then they miss by a mile.
 

JABEE

Member
HBroward said:
Diablo 3 could still be this year, they just aren't factoring it into the projections, that way if it does release, they get to say, "Look how much we beat expectations!" I wouldn't read too much into it. If they did factor it in, and it got delayed, then they miss by a mile.
Diablo 3 actually could come out this year?
 
Did anyone get that moment of realization reading their upcoming list of games that Cabela's may be the best selling non Blizz, non CoD Activision game in the second half of the year?

Man I knew Activision never produced variety anymore but I didn't think it came down to this...
 

Mindlog

Member
Diablo real money auction house shoutout. Nice. No Diablo 3 forecast in the year's fiscal forecast.

epic visceral gameplay.
 

HBroward

Member
Yes, they simply said a Blizzard game is not factored into their projections, not that there will not be one. They have to leave wiggle room. If they had it in the projections and it got delayed, it would be one more thing for the fans to bitch about, on top of the financial impact. This is standard, the same way EA has handled SWTOR.
 

erragal

Member
HBroward said:
Yes, they simply said a Blizzard game is not factored into their projections, not that there will not be one. They have to leave wiggle room. If they had it in the projections and it got delayed, it would be one more thing for the fans to bitch about, on top of the financial impact. This is standard, the same way EA has handled SWTOR.

And looking at how fast people are to say 'confirmed no D3 in 2011' proves their strategy the right one. No news is the best news. They shouldn't even announce it...just release the game suddenly a week before SWTOR to no fanfare.
 

bill0527

Member
If ime reading the chart correctly, subscription revenue increase was almost solely PS3 and xbox 360? PC subscription revenue is almost the same as the previous fiscal year, yet they launched a new WoW xpac this past fiscal year. I wonder how many WoW subscribers have bailed at this point. I certainly would have expected to see a PC subscription increase in revenue just based on the WoW xpac. People must have bailed on it quickly for there not be an increase in revenue.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
erragal said:
And looking at how fast people are to say 'confirmed no D3 in 2011' proves their strategy the right one. No news is the best news. They shouldn't even announce it...just release the game suddenly a week before SWTOR to no fanfare.

Yeah, no. You really can't do that.
 

Deadbeat

Banned
erragal said:
They shouldn't even announce it...just release the game suddenly a week before SWTOR to no fanfare.
Would be devastating to EA. Since EA wants to play the competition game (which they are doing with BF3), why not?
 

Mindlog

Member
Just restating the glaringly obvious again. They're most concerned with NA/EU combined hardware numbers. Worldwide install base is an antiquated unit of measure.
 

Evlar

Banned
Since Blizzard Entertainment has not confirmed a launch date for its next global release, the company's calendar year outlook at this time does not include a new game from Blizzard in 2011.
That's an interesting way to phrase it.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Deadbeat said:
Would be devastating to EA. Since they want to play the competition game (which they are doing with BF3), why not?
Sending out a game with zero marketing would certainly be devastating to someone...
 

Paches

Member
erragal said:
And looking at how fast people are to say 'confirmed no D3 in 2011' proves their strategy the right one. No news is the best news. They shouldn't even announce it...just release the game suddenly a week before SWTOR to no fanfare.

This is why you don't work in marketing :p
 
How many subscribers did WoW lose this quarter? They lost 600K last, and while I doubt they duplicated that exodus, they still must have lost some.
 

HBroward

Member
erragal said:
And looking at how fast people are to say 'confirmed no D3 in 2011' proves their strategy the right one. No news is the best news. They shouldn't even announce it...just release the game suddenly a week before SWTOR to no fanfare.

To be fair, Diablo 3 might be able to pull that off, in a hypothetical world where retail doesn't exist. The only franchise besides it that could maybe pull off a successful stealth release would be Half Life 3.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Gaylord Sweetwood said:
How many subscribers did WoW lose this quarter? They lost 600K last, and while I doubt they duplicated that exodus, they still must have lost some.
They launched Cataclysm in China recently, so it might be up for a bit.
 
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