Activision Blizzard has announced its financial results for Q2 of 2010, ending June 30, and it posted net revenues of $967 million, which is down seven percent from $1 billion year on year. Net income has increased from $195 million to $219 million.
Call of Duty performed well – as expected – and for the first six months of the calendar year, in the US and Europe, it was the number one third-party franchise. The monster that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the number one first-person action game.
The company still expects net revenues of $4.2 billion for the calendar year, and for Q3 of calendar year 2010 it expects net revenues of $600 million.
CEO Bobby Kotick had the following to say;
“Our quarterly results were fueled by continued strong consumer response to Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty franchise and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft.
For the first and second quarters, we outperformed our earnings per share outlook, and we grew our operating margin year over year for the six month period, driven by our focused effort to increase digital revenues. There are clearly more opportunities than ever before to create great games and we are at the forefront of doing so.
Looking to the balance of the year, we expect to release the best slate in our company’s history. Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is off to a strong start worldwide with midnight openings on July 27, 2010 at 3,100 GameStop stores in the U.S. and 8,000 retailers around the world. We are, of course, enthusiastic about Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which began a closed beta test on June 30.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is shaping up to be one of the best games Activision Publishing has ever created, the marketing programs are the biggest in the company’s history and to date, pre-orders of the game exceed the pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 at this time last year. This fall, our lineup includes Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, DJ Hero 2, Tony Hawk: SHRED, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, GoldenEye 007 and Bakugan, all of which look to be very promising as well.
We have never been better positioned for the holiday season than we are today with such a strong slate of games and the best team in our industry to bring them to market.”
Say what you will about Kotick, but the man knows how to make money – and with a whole raft of quality titles on the horizon, we doubt that’s going to stop any time soon.
rht992
i went busking yesterday and i was happy with my 16 quid and a beer. . . seems a little small now
bunimomike
In any industry, there are times to be bullish… even ruthless. However, being a dick is never acceptable. Kotick has everything covered. :-)
tonycawley
So what was their profit?
squashme
they didnt make any profit they lost £33million on last year Q2 lol
tonycawley
Losing 33m on last year’s q2 doesn’t mean they didn’t make a profit. All we’ve got here is turnover, wanted to know what profit they’d made.
cc_star
Eh?
They made $967m for the 3 months… the profit on that was $219m up from $195 for the same period last year.
Not bad for 3 months work in one of the quieter times of the year.
bunimomike
Their net income is their profit (as mentioned in the article). :-)
tonycawley
No no, net income is income minus taxes, but not minus other operating expenditure.
bunimomike
In business ‘net income’ would be the number arrived at after certain things occur, like paying taxes, paying employees, paying rent or upkeep on buildings, and purchasing any needed supplies. The net income may also be considered the company’s profit, or what the company gets to keep after all accounts are settled.
tonycawley
Mike, what you’re describing is net profit. Net income is merely gross income (revenue) minus tax.
bunimomike
I’ve checked quite a few business sites and all of them say the same. Maybe it means something different over in the US. I’m not actively trying to prove you wrong I just want to know what’s right. :-)
Google a few sites to see what Net Income is then see if you get the same as me. If not, it sounds like an ambiguous term which is suited to massaging figures and nothing else. ;-)
cc_star
A quote:
“Net income is calculated by starting with a company’s total revenue. From this, the cost of sales, along with any other expenses that the company incurred during the period, is removed to reach earnings before tax. Tax is deducted from this amount to reach the net income number. Net income, like other accounting measures, is susceptible to manipulation through such things as aggressive revenue recognition or by hiding expenses. When basing an investment decision on net income numbers, it is important to review the quality of the numbers that were used to arrive at this value.”
I don’t really see it as being different as net profit, unless I’m wrong?
badgersnapper68
I’m sure they’ll feel that they can improve their profits – cue CoD subscription mode…..
bunimomike
Definitely. There was a big increase in digital purchases, etc, so they’re pursuing that aggressively as we’ve seen. :-\