Activision Blizzard released its 2012 calendar year financials today, and defied the slumping game market with impressive sales numbers.

CEO Bobby Kotick said, “We are very pleased to report that Activision Blizzard delivered the best performance in its history. With better-than-expected net revenues, record operating margins and record earnings, and over $1.3 billion in operating cash flow, we continue to set the industry success bar. I would like to thank our incredibly talented employees around the world for their passion, drive and creativity, which continues to fuel our success.”

When you look at the numbers, his words were well warranted. Net revenue for the company was $4.86 billion, up from $4.76 billion in 2011. The company also saw growth in digital sales, which tallied $1.6 billion and represented 32 percent of the company's total net sales.

This success was driven, not surprisingly, by the company's roster of mega-franchises. Its Call of Duty and Skylanders lines were the year's first and third best-selling franchises, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the year's best-selling game in dollars generated.

By the end of 2012, the Skylanders games (Skylanders Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders Giants) and toy line had accounted for over $1 billion in lifetime sales, with more than 100 million Skylanders toy figures sold worldwide.

Blizzard also delivered big numbers, with Diablo III checking in as the best-selling retail PC game (12 million units sold) and the Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria grabbing the number three slot on the top ten PC games of 2012 list. World of Warcraft, though down from its peak, still maintains over 9.6 millions monthly subscribers.

In the forward-looking portion of the statement, Activision confirmed that the Black Ops II DLC map pack Revolution (a timed Xbox 360 exclusive) will be released for other platforms in the first quarter of 2013, and that the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm expansion will launch on March 12.

Source: Activision Blizzard