'Diablo III' and 'Skylanders' Sales Highlighted on Activision Earnings Call

‘Diablo III’ and ‘Skylanders’ Sales Highlighted on Activision Earnings Call

Posted on August 3, 2012

Yesterday, Activision Blizzard had its second quarter earnings call and surprisingly the focus of the call was not around either World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. Instead it was Diablo III that was heralded as the biggest winner of the past quarter for the company. Diablo III scored more than 10,000,000 units sold since its release.

Also not surprising if you know any kids who play games is that Skylanders, including toy sales, was the best selling game for the first half of 2012. CEO Bobby Kotick also made sure to add that the toy sales of Skylanders outsold the highest selling toy lines in both the US and Europe.

As a result of the $1.05 billion dollars in overall earnings, predictions have gone up a full million for their $4.3 billion in expected earnings for the year. Still to come this year, Activision Blizzard has a full lineup for the remainder of the year with World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria expansion , the juggernaut of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the toy powerhouse Skylanders Giants and franchise player Transformers: Fall of Cybertron featuring the dinobots. With the last Call of Duty breaking the billion dollar mark on top of these other huge titles, Activision Blizzard looks to maintain its top spot in the gaming world.

Bobby would also comment publically for the first time about Vivendi and the potential sale of Activision Blizzard. “While we’re unable to comment on Vivendi’s behalf, we continue to remain focused on strong execution, the delivery of great games and the provision of superior shareholder returns as we have for over 20 years. Our strategy has served us very well in the past and will position us very well for the future.”

With earnings reports like this, it would make any stockholder wonder why Vivendi would have Activision up for sale unless they are hoping for a purchase higher than what their controlling 61% stake in the company is currently valued out.

The good news is that this is a positive report in the gaming industry. While there have been so many sad and disappointing reports this year between 38 Studios or Radical Games, just to name a few, it is good to see that the industry can still have success stories.

 

The Definition of “Geek Chic.” Comic books, sci-fi movies, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Lord of the Rings and more all rolled up in a Diesel wearing, club going socialite package. Having worked in both advertising and television, John is a lifetime writer always being a part of the creative process. John knows the television world between his experience on being involved with the production process of over two hundred episodes of prime time tv and being a self admitted media whore. Yes he has a weakness for trash tv, Michael Bay-esque action movies and the raunchy teen comedy as well. Never try to debate the Original Star Wars Trilogy versus Star Trek with him because the Holy Trilogy always comes out on top. Having partied with movie stars to Playboy centerfolds, John is somehow always able to find someone’s inner geek. The simplest rules that John lives by is to have fun and doing what makes him happy. There’s no shame in being a geek. Play Halo, read Spider-Man and proudly display the whole series of Neon Genesis: Evangelion on your DVD rack. And most importantly, make sure to read his weekly comic book pull list reviews at The Flickcast.

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