Activision seeks new hits to ease reliance on Call of Duty, World of Warcraft revenue
Activision says that 83% of its net revenue comes from only four franchises (Call of Duty, Diablo, Skylanders, and World of Warcraft), so it has set plans in motion to generate new earners in case any of those fall short.
Activision isn't exactly hurting for money. Between the annualized blockbuster success of Call of Duty and the millions of people still paying a monthly fee for World of Warcraft, the company seems to be sitting pretty. But it doesn't want to stake its future on those successes, and has set other plans in motion in case they fizzle.
"A significant portion of our revenues has historically been derived from products based on a relatively small number of popular franchises and these products are responsible for a disproportionately high percentage of our profits," reads an amended annual report. "For example, our four largest franchises in 2012--Call of Duty, Diablo, Skylanders and World of Warcraft--accounted for approximately 83% of our net revenues, and a significantly higher percentage of our operating income, for the year."
The report goes on to state that the "disproportionately high percentage" of revenues means they're dependent on those, and "failure to achieve anticipated results by one or more products based on these franchises may significantly harm our business and financial results."
To deal with this potential pitfall, the annual report claims that Activision will be taking a few steps: shifting toward digital delivery and supporting online communities like those surrounding CoD and WoW, looking into free-to-play models with microtransactions, and developing new intellectual properties. It cites Skylanders as an example of a new IP that paid off, generating more than $1 billion in worldwide sales so far. Its deal to publish the upcoming Bungie FPS Destiny is said to be its next large step.
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Steve Watts posted a new article, Activision seeks new hits to ease reliance on Call of Duty, World of Warcraft revenue.
Activision says that 83% of its net revenue comes from only four franchises (Call of Duty, Diablo, Skylanders, and World of Warcraft), so it has set plans in motion to generate new earners in case any of those fall short.-
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when i saw skylanders at E3, they had a huge presentation/display with costumes and smoke and everything. i thought to myself, 'how silly to go that far for a game that's going to flop'.
i have been shown how wrong i was ever since my 4 year old boy asked me for skylanders as his christmas present. i had no idea he knew about them. maybe a passing tv commercial, other kids or cousins, who knows. of course, his attention has since moved on to other things now that christmas has passed.
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Dafuq... me to.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylanders
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This isn't really news; it's customary in SEC 10-K forms to state risks to the business.
However, the FY2010 SEC form released on March 1, 2010 was where Activision first announced the termination of employment of Jason West and Vince Zampella. That wasn't ordinary; that was bizarre. And wow, that was three years ago. -
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Three of those four franchises are in decline and have been for at least a year and they're only now thinking about diversifying? And where will they find the talent? They've cut everything to focus on these tent pole franchises and haven't fostered the kind of creativity you need to perpetuate a business in the long term. I'm not saying they're doomed, but I don't think they're well positioned, and I would not hold their stock.
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Activision is definitely pretty damn successful.
But look at half the IPs that account for their success: motherfucking Blizzard.
Also, I'm betting that CoD sales are slowing down as well. Haven't looked at the annual report, but given the trend for them to start offering discounts on NEW CoD games in the last six months, I'm betting that it's not quite the money-train it used to be. Recall that Modern Warfare 1, 2, and Black Ops didn't drop in price nor were they offered for a discount for the LONGEST time.
I just saw Black Ops II on sale for 33% off recently. -
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