The gaming company Activision Blizzard has announced its quarter first 2012 revenue with GAAP net revenues were $1.17 billion, as compared with $1.45 billion for the first quarter of 2011. On a non-GAAP basis, the company’s net revenues were $587 million, as compared with $755 million for the first quarter of 2011. For the first quarter, GAAP net revenues from digital channels represented 27% of the company’s total revenues. On a non-GAAP basis, net revenues from digital channels were 51%. The GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.33, as compared with $0.42 for the first quarter of 2011. On a non-GAAP basis, the company’s earnings per diluted share were $0.06, as compared with $0.13 for the first quarter of 2011.
Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer, Activision Blizzard, said, “Our better-than-expected first-quarter performance was driven by global consumer demand for Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Skylanders Spyro’s Adventures, as well as Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft which remains the #1 subscription-based MMORPG in the world. Through March 31, players have logged more than 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay of Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and for the quarter in North America and Europe, including the accessory packs and figures, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventures was the #3 best-selling game overall in dollars across all platforms. Based on our internal estimates, we believe that Skylander’s toys sales in the first quarter exceeded those of Star Wars, the #1 action figure line.”
Selected Business Highlights:
- As of March 31, 2012, the Call of Duty franchise had approximately 40 million monthly active users.
- Players have logged more than 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 through March 31, 2012.
- As of April 30, 2012, more than 10 million gamers have registered for Call of Duty Elite, including more than two million premium annual memberships the company has sold for the online service.
- In North America and Europe, including accessory packs and figures, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure was the #3 best-selling game overall in dollars across all platforms for the first quarter of 2012 and the #1 selling kids’ title in dollars in the quarter.
- On April 5, 2012, Activision Publishing expanded the reach of the Skylanders franchise with the debut of Skylanders Cloud Patrol, an entirely new gaming experience for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.
- For the first quarter, Activision Blizzard had two top-10 PC titles in North America and Europe with Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
- On March 20, 2012, Blizzard Entertainment announced that they renewed their license with NetEase for the distribution of World of Warcraft in mainland China. The new license will continue for an additional three years following the expiration of the current license agreement.
- On March 21, 2012, Blizzard Entertainment launched the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta test.
- During the first quarter, Activision Blizzard purchased an aggregate of 22 million shares of its common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $261 million.
- Activision Blizzard will pay a cash dividend of $0.18 per common share on May 16, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 21, 2012. This represents a 9% increase over the dividend that was paid in 2011.
