Activision Q4 earnings dismal. Stock falls more than 15%

[pheelgood]

Looks like the lack of bots to shore up Blizz's business model is hurting them LOL (most likely not true but having fun with it)

 

[NavyAV89]

They missed their earnings for the last quarter. Not by a lot but the market is reactionary. I have held ATVI for a number of years and it is still a solid buy. If anything, their acquisition of King may have caused earnings to be a bit lower than forecast.

 

[Nightcrawler12]

Not the lack of bots sir; it's the lack of content and the issues with WoD.

 

[thatwouldbestealing]

Can you clarify, exactly how were Blizzard Activision Q4 earnings dismal ?

We must be looking at different numbers ?

 

[Macatho]

Isn't hearthstone their bulk income stream atm anyways? Maybe people just got tired of Hearthstone?

 

[Thecamel]

Isn't hearthstone their bulk income stream atm anyways? Maybe people just got tired of Hearthstone?

lol even at 5million subs.. and lets just say 10 bucks a month (I know its more)- that's 50million a month to sit on there chair and jack off...

No I'm pretty sure wow would still be its money tree.

 

[Frayman]

I heard Trump plans to buy Activision and use the funds to build some wall he keeps talking about

 

[Nightcrawler12]

I'm surprised no major financial media outlet/investment bank hasn't done a break down of blizzard's cash flows to do approximate numbers.

If anyone has an updated Cash flow model with fresh assumptions on Actavision for the past 5 years (and blizz before the merger); that could be some super interesting ready; maybe even a sneaky infographic for the community.

 

[pheelgood]

From their most recent 8Q filing.

Activision Blizzard Announces Q4 2015 Financial Results

· At constant FX B , Activision Publishing’s 2015 non-GAAP operating income grew 30%, and revenues grew 7%. Average MAUs A for the year were up 20% year-over-year, reaching an all-time high, and digital revenues grew over 65%. Activision Publishing now has 4 of the top 10 games on next-generation consoles life-to-date, including Call of Duty Black Ops III at number one. 1

· Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty franchise revenues grew double digits year-over-year both for the full year and in Q4, ending the quarter with the highest MAUs A in franchise history. The strong performance was driven by Call of Duty: Black Ops III , which had the biggest entertainment opening weekend of 2015, and was the #1 console game globally for the calendar year. 2 Call of Duty was the #1 franchise in North America for the seventh year in a row. 1 Black Ops III also has the highest season pass attach rate for downloadable content in franchise history. The Call of Duty franchise has now surpassed 250 million units sold life-to-date worldwide with over $15 billion in total sales, including in-game content, since it first launched in 2003. 2

· Activision Publishing’s Destiny achieved record digital attach rates on its critically acclaimed Q3 expansion, The Taken King . Destiny’s 25+ million registered users have logged nearly 3 billion hours playing the game.

· Activision Publishing’s casual titles, namely Q3 release Skylanders ® SuperChargers and Q4 release Guitar Hero ® Live , performed weaker than expected, we believe largely due to greater competition in the toys to life genre and due to the casual audience’s shift to mobile devices.

· Blizzard Entertainment reached an all-time high for MAUs A in 2015. Fourth quarter MAUs A were up nearly 25% year-over-year, reflecting strong engagement with the online player community. At constant FX B , Blizzard’s 2015 revenues are above 2014’s record results.

· On November 6, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment revealed that Hearthstone ® : Heroes of Warcraft ™ had surpassed the 40 million-registered-player milestone. On November 12, 2015, Blizzard launched The League of Explorers ™, the third adventure for the franchise, with 45 new cards. This Adventure sold over 20% more units as of the first 6 weeks after launch than the prior Adventure in the same time frame. As a result of this new content, and continued strength across platforms and geographies, Hearthstone hit all-time franchise highs in multiple categories, including MAUs A , at the end of Q4.

· On November 6, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment kicked off presales for Legion ™ , the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft ® . Pre-purchasers will receive the expansion’s level-100 character boost, as well as early access to the Demon Hunter class when available. World of Warcraft remains the #1 subscription - based MMORPG in the world.

· On November 10, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment launched Legacy of the Void ™ , the standalone third chapter of StarCraft ® II , selling through over 1 million copies in the first 24 hours of launch. Legacy of the Void received multiple Strategy Game of the Year awards. At BlizzCon ® on November 6, 2015, Blizzard announced plans for a series of standalone mission packs.

· At BlizzCon, Blizzard Entertainment announced Heroes of the Storm’s ™ upcoming Arena mode, planned for release in 2016, featuring smaller maps and shorter sessions. Heroes of the Storm

 

[ryftobuddy]

I'm surprised no major financial media outlet/investment bank hasn't done a break down of blizzard's cash flows to do approximate numbers.

If anyone has an updated Cash flow model with fresh assumptions on Actavision for the past 5 years (and blizz before the merger); that could be some super interesting ready; maybe even a sneaky infographic for the community.

There is no reason to do such a break down...There is no more blizzard, there's just activision blizzard now.

And the title of this thread is nothing but click-bait. Their earnings weren't abysmal, they simple didn't meet predictions. They made 5 billion USD. If that's abysmal, well...

And anyone that thinks bots are a big portion of activision's income, you're dead wrong. At the very most, and I mean the very most, 5% of the income from wow (a very small portion of their overall income) comes from bots.

 

[Aion]

Not the lack of bots sir; it's the lack of content and the issues with WoD.

This is the real problem and its obvious even for the 9 years-old kids!

That seems the only reason why they do not share the up-to-date WoW subscribers base anymore! It seems too depressing for the gamers perhaps?

 

[Nightcrawler12]

There is no reason to do such a break down...There is no more blizzard, there's just activision blizzard now.

And the title of this thread is nothing but click-bait. Their earnings weren't abysmal, they simple didn't meet predictions. They made 5 billion USD. If that's abysmal, well...

And anyone that thinks bots are a big portion of activision's income, you're dead wrong. At the very most, and I mean the very most, 5% of the income from wow (a very small portion of their overall income) comes from bots.

I agree they weren't abysmal. It's not about the actual magnitude amount, so don't make judgements on that. Bots are an incredibly small part of their income, less than 1%. People greatly overestimate the amount of money blizzard earns from new licenses and monthly subs from wow bots. The chinese produce the bulk of the gold, they do this by committing credit card fraud en mass.

 

[Macatho]

lol even at 5million subs.. and lets just say 10 bucks a month (I know its more)- that's 50million a month to sit on there chair and jack off...

No I'm pretty sure wow would still be its money tree.

There are 40 MILLION hearthstone players though...

 

[Gaaldornick]

There are 40 MILLION hearthstone players though...

I pay $0 a month to play HS. I have payed $0 so far ever.

 

[Mr McGibblets]

Agreed, I've paid $0 for hearthstone as well. Yet, I understand the payment model. It is a very slippery slope once you give in and make that first purchase in a freemium game. I've spent as much on Clash of Clans as I have for diablo3. Hence why I stay away from that sort of game. I like to be able to play a lot in a game, hard to get around those time constraints. Though hearthstone is not as bad but it doesn't take much for somebody to drop a ton of money on the campaign expansions or card packs.

 

[dragonbuddy]

i own about 5 of those hearthstone account that i never use

 

[Macatho]

Agreed, I've paid $0 for hearthstone as well. Yet, I understand the payment model. It is a very slippery slope once you give in and make that first purchase in a freemium game. I've spent as much on Clash of Clans as I have for diablo3. Hence why I stay away from that sort of game. I like to be able to play a lot in a game, hard to get around those time constraints. Though hearthstone is not as bad but it doesn't take much for somebody to drop a ton of money on the campaign expansions or card packs.

And since tokens were introduced, how much have YOU paid for wow?

 

[Nightcrawler12]

Blizzard is still earning the same money from tokens my boys; just because you hand over virtual gold for the game time, someone, somewhere is supplying and paying blizzard >$15 for the token.

 

[Kmica]

And since tokens were introduced, how much have YOU paid for wow?

I didnt pay anything for game time for over 4 years now...
Only thing i payed was a new battlechest account few months ago which got banned pretty fast.

 

[Nightcrawler12]

And since tokens were introduced, how much have YOU paid for wow?

At $15 a month, the cost isn't a factor. If you can't afford $15/month comfortably; then its time to get a job lads and work a little harder.