This is not “the game is dying” thread, just a few numbers and some thoughts.
There was an earnings call recently. Activision Blizzard are doing well, etc. Especially the Activision part. Blizzard aren’t doing too shabby either. Shadowlands just released, etc.
Things aren’t all rosy though. Eg, while yearly numbers are good, Q4 numbers for Blizzard aren’t, they reduced compared to what they were in the previous year. Now, Shadowlands obviously currently made WoW bigger than in the previous year, it’s just that the increases in WoW were smaller than the losses elsewhere. So, nothing bad just yet.
There is, however, something that gives me pause. Remember when they stopped reporting the number of subs? Many people said this was because subs stopped growing and started reducing every time, it was no longer a positive-looking metric. Blizzard vehemently objected to that and said that they stopped reporting subs simply because it was no longer a useful metric, and the useful metric was MAUs - monthy active users. Honestly, both things are true.
What’s interesting is that if we take their new chosen metric - MAUs - and look at it in perspective, we see this:
Q1 2018 = 38 million
Q2 2018 = 37 million
Q3 2018 = 37 million
Q4 2018 = 35 million
Q1 2019 through Q1 2020 = 32 million each
Q2 2020 = 32 million
Q3 2020 = 30 million
And, finally, the number from the call:
Q4 2020 = 29 million
So, they switched their reporting metric to a new one, because the new one presumably made more sense and also because the old one was declining and they didn’t think they could stop it from declining. And now they are steadily declining on the new metric as well.
Make from it what you will.
