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Activision: Destiny Now Has 25 Million Players, Blizzard Monthly Users Up 50 Percent
In addition to yesterday’s announcement that Activision has agreed to acquire Candy Crush maker King, the publisher also had some good news about its current business. Destiny continues to grow, even though we don’t have specific sales figures.
Activision reports that there are currently 25 million registered Destiny players. Those Guardians are playing an average of three hours per day.
The game broke PlayStation download records when it launched on September 15. It has since become the most-watched game on Twitch.
Blizzard also continues to see significant growth. Its monthly active players have grown by 50 percent, driven no doubt by Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.
The company also shared that 7 million signed up for the Overwatch beta, which is currently ongoing. World of Warcraft subscriptions were almost level, with a loss of only 100,000 players. There are currently 5.5 million subscribed.
Update: On Activision Blizzard's earnings call, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime indicated that this will be the last quarter in which the company reports World of Warcraft subscriber numbers.
Our Take
Activision continues to grow its core properties, and stands poised to launch Call of Duty: Black Ops III this week. It’s impressive that World of Warcraft leveled out, which indicates a strong foundational player base that is still engaged.
This group will likely diminish slowly over time, but this bandages the bleeding that the game saw earlier this year. As Blizzard balances free-to-play and traditional premium gaming, monthly users are going to be an important benchmark at which we’ll continue to look.
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