Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Activision Beats Third-Quarter Expectations
One day after the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, Activision is reporting stronger than expected earnings for its third quarter. This comes on the back of last year’s Call of Duty and Skylanders titles, Diablo III on consoles, and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
Call of Duty: Ghosts, which has sold $1 billion to retail, and the latest installment in the $1.5 billion Skylanders franchise will be included in the year-end report come December 31. The company reports net revenues of $691 million against an outlook of $635 million. This is down from third quarter last year, which saw net revenues of $841 million.
Nine-month earnings are strong at $3.065 billion, which is only slightly down from last year’s $3.088 billion. Activision has been cautioning investors of a tough year as a result of the console transition.
[Source: Activision]
Our Take
I’m interested to hear what CEO Bobby Kotick has to say on the upcoming earnings call. Reviews for Call of Duty: Ghosts have been a bit more varied than in past years, but the title is also launching on two additional platforms and could see significantly stronger sales because of upgrades.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
