Activision Blizzard has published its financial results for the first quarter of 2022 published and issued a Decline in quarterly revenue to $1.77 billion announced, narrowly missing analysts’ estimates of $1.8 billion. Reasons cited were robust growth at King offset by the poor performance of Call of Duty: Vanguard and the lack of major Blizzard releases. On a more positive note, however, the company’s Diablo Immortal on June 2 with cross-play for the PC. is scheduled for release, while internal testing for Diablo 4 is already underway, public testing for Overwatch 2 begins tomorrow, April 26, and an announcement for Warcraft Mobile will be made in the coming weeks.

Due to the impending acquisition by Microsoft, the financial results were presented without the usual conference call, and the report lacked a personal quote from CEO Bobby Kotick or CFO Armin Zerza, although business highlights included increased legal costs as a result of the pending merger with Microsoft and the Hiring of several hundred new developers were mentioned. In addition, the report mentioned recent news such as the approval of a $18 million settlement with the EEOC., the Conversion of 1,100 QA employees to full-time positions. and the appointment of Kristen Hines as DE&I director were mentioned.

Highlights of the financial report – losses, but many bright spots

Activision Blizzard: Financial Report Quarter 1 2022 – red numbers and many bright spots (2)

Source: Blizzard




Overall financial performance declined year-over-year, primarily due to lower results for Call of Duty and product cycle timing at Blizzard Entertainment, offsetting otherwise robust growth at King. Although Blizzard Entertainment does not provide guidance for the future, news of the launch of Diablo Immortal, internal testing of Diablo 4, public testing of Overwatch 2, the upcoming announcement of Warcraft Mobile, and the announcement of CoD 2022 as the most advanced gaming experience to date all point to renewed growth for the remainder of the year.

Activision – 100 million monthly active users, down from 107 million in Q4 2021.

Activision Blizzard: Financial Report Quarter 1 2022 – red numbers and many bright spots (3)

Source: Blizzard

• As with last quarter, the failure of Call of Duty: Vanguard to outperform Black Ops: Cold War and lower engagement for the free-to-play Warzone led to a lower than expected performance within the Activision segment, although CoD Mobile bookings avoided a similar decline. This year’s release, a follow-up to Modern Warfare, is expected to be the most modern experience in CoD history.
• Net bookings for Call of Duty on console and PC declined year-over-year in the first quarter, driven by lower premium sales for Call of Duty: Vanguard year-over-year and lower engagement for Call of Duty: Warzone. Call of Duty Mobile net bookings were virtually unchanged compared to the prior-year quarter.
• The Call of Duty teams made significant gameplay improvements to Vanguard and Warzone in the first quarter. Development of this year’s Premium and Warzone experiences, led by Infinity Ward, is progressing very well. This year’s Call of Duty is the sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare, the most successful Call of Duty title to date, and will be the most advanced experience in the franchise’s history. Developed from the ground up alongside the premium game, the new free-to-play Warzone experience features groundbreaking innovations that will be revealed later this year.
• Activision continued to rapidly expand its Call of Duty development resources in the first quarter. The growing teams are focused on delivering more compelling content to the community on PC and console and expanding Warzone to the mobile platform.