Activision Blizzard Q3 2022: "Return To Strong Growth" Across Key IPs, Mutual Agreement With NetEase May Not Happen

Activision Blizzard has posted its Q3 financial results for July, August, and September 2022. While ABK's revenue numbers continue to decline as they have over the past two years, the corporation has positioned itself for "a return to strong growth" due to successful launches of key IPs.

For Q3 2022, ABK's revenue dropped 14% compared to last year. The company attributes the decline to the "reduced engagement for Call of Duty following the weaker reception for last year's premium release." While on the downside there, the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II has broken records as "the fastest-selling title in the history of the Call of Duty franchise." Since its October 28 launch, it has surpassed $1B, with sales continually growing across all platforms.

Other IPs, such as Overwatch 2, have raised community engagement to new highs, doubling its predecessor in daily players. Diablo Immortal continues expanding globally, becoming a top 10-grossing mobile game since its launch in China. Candy Crush is, of course, still racking in record-high profit. And as for the future, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is determined to increase "the cadence of WoW content for the community" in the wake of Wrath of the Lich King Classic release on September 26.

Across the board, their key titles are rolling in content initiatives that Activision Blizzard considers successful gains for the company. But something on the horizon that may be trouble for Activision Blizzard is its partnership with NetEase. Their disputes became public knowledge as we learned about the Warcraft-inspired Neptune title for mobile devices getting scrapped over their disagreement on finances. With Activision Blizzard's licensing agreements with NetEase expiring in January 2023, they hope to renew and come to a mutually-satisfactory deal but stated it "may not be reached" with NetEase.

All in all, a lot of buzz from ABK. We will likely see productive 2023 results considering the Microsoft deal making headway at some point alongside the content releases underway. CEO Bobby Kotick sent a letter to employees to state progress on the merger "is moving along as we expected," despite UK regulators continuing to investigate the deal. Both companies are determining the deal will close in Microsoft's current fiscal year ending June 2023.

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.