Activision Blizzard's 2022 Financial Results And Q4 Earnings Display 43% Year-Over-Year Net Bookings Growth

Activision Blizzard just released their Q4 earnings alongside their 2022 financial results, and overall, the company had a pretty good year. The CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick had this to share: "We ended 2022 with record quarterly net bookings as we delivered on our mission to bring epic joy to players. I’m grateful to our talented and hardworking teams for their many successes in entertaining our hundreds of millions of players around the world. We look forward to a historic year, as we work toward merging with Microsoft.”

A deal that has yet to be finalized might I add. “This merger will enable us to better serve our players, create greater opportunities for our employees, and allow us to succeed in an increasingly competitive global gaming industry,” Kotick continued.

According to Activision Blizzards’ press release, the two parties (Microsoft and Activision Blizzard) “are continuing to engage with regulators reviewing the transaction and are working toward closing it in Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30 2023, subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.” There is sure to be a lot to share in the coming months regarding the deal.

Now, moving back to financials, at Activision, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II delivered the highest opening-quarter sell-through in franchise history, the Call of Duty franchise’s growing performance on console, PC, and mobile resulted in Activision segment revenue and operating income to grow approximately 60% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Blizzard also reported its highest quarterly net bookings to date, said to be driven by Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.

While Dragonflight sales did not reach the “level of the prior expansion, community feedback on the title has been positive.” Blizzard has announced their plans to deliver more content for the expansion and pointed out that post-launch subscriber retention in the West is higher than in its recent expansions. Overwatch 2, on the other hand, with its new free-to-play model, delivered the highest quarterly figures for player numbers and hours played in Overwatch history. The team is still working on PVE content, which is good to hear considering that was supposed reason Overwatch 2 was made in the first place.

Overall, Blizzard Activision did great. However, due to the success with Call of Duty and the release of the financials attached to the game, these numbers could later be used against them as the battle continues over the pending acquisition.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.