Activision revenue increases in Q2 despite drop in Warzone & Vanguard players

Despite a drop-off in active monthly users between Q1 and Q2 2022, Activision’s revenue from microtransactions saw a notable increase in that time period, with Vanguard and Warzone helping significantly.

Activision Blizzard is in the process of its $95-per-share cash sale to Microsoft, which is expected to go ahead in 2023, but is still pulling in billions of dollars each quarter.

In April 2022, it was reported that Activision itself — covering the Call of Duty titles — had lost 50m active monthly users, attributed to a declined interest in battle royal hit Warzone.

In the months following, though, the decline in players continued, with active users across all Activision Blizzard King titles dropping to 361 million, down from 372.

Despite this, it’s not all doom and gloom for the game publisher, as Activision’s revenues saw a solid quarterly increase thanks to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone.

Increased revenue from CoD microtransactions

As explained in the Activision investor call, “Call of Duty net bookings on console and PC grew sequentially in the second quarter, following gameplay improvements and seasonal content across Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone that were well-received by players.”

They also noted that CoD: Mobile revenue was consistent across quarters, but added that “revenue and operating income declined year-over-year, reflecting lower engagement for the Call of Duty franchise.”

In total, Activision Blizzard’s net revenues for Q2 2022 totaled over $1.6bn, a decrease from the $2.3bn in Q2 2021, despite the short uptick from the Call of Duty franchise, which dropped another 6m monthly users in Q2.

With Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 arriving in the latter months of 2023, Activision Blizzard will no doubt be expecting a huge uptick from both game sales and microtransactions when the new games drop.