|
I wonder if Bobby Kotick is getting prepped for the the Iowa caucuses yet? You figure that with the American Supreme Court removing limits on corporate political spending, his run for the Presidency in 2012 must look like a shoe-in. After all, Activision will be able to easily finance the whole thing and he's already got a knack for spin doctoring.
He used that talent today while reporting that the company that produces "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft" lost $286 million bucks in the last three months of 2009. Compare this with a loss of $72 million, a year earlier.
This is why I never was any good at accounting. To me, it still looks like they made more than the country of Tajikistan...yet here they are reporting a loss.
If I were Bobby, I'd blame it on all the non-hardcore gamers who failed to re-up their Guitar Hero swag. The FPS guys did their job and pulled out good numbers. Even the PC community pitched in (numbers below)...you'd think that would get us the dedicated servers alone...but no.
Here are the gory details:
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced December quarter and calendar year 2009 financial results.
For calendar year 2009, Activision Blizzard's GAAP net revenues were $4.28 billion. On a non-GAAP basis, the company's net revenues were $4.78 billion.
Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, stated, "We delivered better-than-expected calendar year...in the U.S. and Europe, Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare™ 2 was the #1 best-selling title overall and DJ Hero™ was the highest grossing new IP launched in 2009. Additionally, through Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft® we remain #1 in the subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game category worldwide, according to The NPD Group and internal Activision Blizzard estimates."
Kotick continued, "Despite these challenging times, in 2010 we remain focused on expanding operating margins by growing our high-margin digital/online revenues, directing our resources to the largest and most profitable opportunities and realizing operational efficiencies globally.
On a non-GAAP basis, we expect to deliver a year of record net earnings and operating margins and are taking another step towards our long-term objective of operating margins of 30% or more.
In calendar year 2010, we expect our net earnings and operating margin growth will be driven by our product slate that includes Blizzard Entertainment's Starcraft® II and the World of Warcraft expansion pack, Cataclysm™, as well as a diversified lineup based on Activision Publishing's best-selling franchises including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero® and Tony Hawk®, together with other well-known titles such as True Crime®, Spider-Man® and Bakugan®."
Business Highlights
In the U.S. and Europe, for calendar year 2009, Activision Blizzard increased its share 1.8 points over the previous year across all platforms to 16% and had two of the top-five best-selling franchises on the consoles across all platforms -- Call of Duty and Guitar Hero®, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk. Additionally, the company was the #1 U.S. publisher overall for the PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360™ video game system from Microsoft and the #1 third-party publisher for the Nintendo Wii™, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk.
Other highlights are as follows:
* Activision Blizzard had two of the top five best-selling PC titles in dollars in the U.S. and Europe for the calendar year -- Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare™ 2 and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King™, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk.
* For the December quarter, Activision Blizzard was the #1 publisher overall in the U.S. and Europe and grew its share 1.7 points over the previous year across all platforms to 20.1%, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk.
* During the December quarter, in the U.S. and Europe, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the #1 best-selling console title in dollars and the Call of Duty franchise was the #1 franchise overall, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk.
* In November 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the first video game ever to surpass $550 million in retail sales in its first five days of release, according to Activision Publishing's internal estimates. To date, the game has sold more than $1 billion in retail sales worldwide, according to The NPD, Charttrack and Gfk.
* As of December 31, 2009, approximately 11.5 million gamers worldwide are subscribed to play Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft.
Company Outlook
For calendar year 2010, Activision Blizzard expects GAAP net revenues of $4.2 billion.
I thought the following chart was a good summary of which platform loved Activision best (amounts are in millions):
Year Ended
--------------
December 31, 2009
Amount % of Total
----------------------
GAAP Net Revenues by Segment/Platform Mix Activision and Blizzard:
MMORPG $1,233 29%
PC and other 179 4
Sony PlayStation 3 584 14
Sony PlayStation 2 174 4
Microsoft Xbox 360 857 19
Nintendo Wii 584 14
--- ---
Total console 2,199 51
Sony PlayStation
Portable 48 1
Nintendo Dual
Screen 196 5
--- ---
Total handheld 244 6
-------------- --- ---
Total Activision and
Blizzard 3,855 90
And this shows the aftermath of MW2 in comparison to 2008 when CoD:WW came out. Good increases in PC and Xbox revenues (hello MW2), but decreases in Wii sales (goodbye Guitar Hero).
Three Months Ended
----------------------
December 31, 2009 December 31, 2008
Amount % of Total Amount % of Total Difference
----------------- --------------- ------------- ---------- --------------
GAAP Net Revenues by Segment/Platform Mix Activision and Blizzard:
MMORPG $294 19% $325 20% $(31)
PC and other 60 4 49 3 11
Sony PlayStation 3 228 15 163 10 65
Sony PlayStation 2 53 3 205 13 (152)
Microsoft Xbox 360 324 21 273 17 51
Nintendo Wii 260 17 317 19 (57)
--- --- --- --- ---
Total console 865 56 958 59 (93)
|
