blizzard Activision Blizzard Q2 2021 Earnings Call

[Staff 1,502]

Activision Blizzard held its quarterly earnings call yesterday and here are the highlights.

It's also worth noting Blizzard posted a press release ahead of the earnings call, addressing the lawsuit and the company's working environment that you can find here.

Q2 2021 Earnings Call Highlights

• The launch of Burning Crusade Classic in June marked the start of what is intended to be a very significant 18-month period for content releases.
• Blizzard had 26 million monthly active users (MAUs) (down from 27 million MAUs in Q1 2021).
  • For Blizzard, an individual who accesses the same game on two platforms or devices in the relevant period would generally be counted as a single user.
• World of Warcraft
  • WoW net bookings grew double-digit percentage Y/Y, driven by the launch of Burning Crusade Classic. Subscriber numbers and hours played were higher following the release.
  • WoW remains on track for much stronger engagement this year than is typical outside of a modern year.
• Hearthstone
  • Forged in Barrens delivered expansion-over-expansion net bookings growth for a second consecutive release following its March launch.
  • United in Stormwind and the new Mercenaries mode is expected to strengthen the financial performance of Hearthstone in the second half of 2021.
• Diablo
  • The highly anticipated Diablo II: Resurrected will launch on PC and console on September 23.
  • Diablo Immortal continued to progress well through testing, receiving excellent feedback for its gameplay. The team is pursuing additional opportunities to make the title even more engaging for a wider audience, with the launch now slated for the first half of 2022.
  • Blizzard continues to make strong progress on Diablo 4 and is allocating substantial resources to creating exciting in-game content to drive engagement over multiple years.
• Overwatch 2
  • The game's development passed an important internal milestone in recent weeks. After a great response to the recent community update, the team is looking forward to revealing more of the game in the coming months as they approach the later stages of production.