Activision Blizzard announces Q1 FY17 financial results

Activision Blizzard, Inc. has announced better-than-expected and record first-quarter 2017 results.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2017, Activision Blizzard’s net revenues were a Q1 record of $1.73 billion, as compared with $1.46 billion for the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 19%. Net revenues from digital channels were a Q1 record of $1.39 billion, growing 50% year-over-year. For the quarter, operating cash flows were a Q1 record of $411 million, up 22% year-over-year.

Activision Blizzard had 431 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs)A in the quarter. Blizzard had the biggest Q1 online player community in its history with MAUsA of 41 million, up 58% year-over-year. Overwatch continues to be Blizzard’s fastest growing new franchise, reaching over 30 million players globally less than a year after launch. Overwatch is now the 8th billion-dollar franchise in Activision Blizzard’s portfolio.

Activision had 48 million MAUsA in the first quarter, down year-over-year primarily due to softness from last year’s COD Infinite Warfare release. Activision expects to release Call of Duty: WWII on November 3, 2017. Last week’s reveal was the most watched livestream in Call of Duty history, and the reveal trailer became the fastest video to reach 10 million views in Call of Duty history. Though early, initial pre-orders for Call of Duty: WWII are off to a very strong start. Activision and its partners at Bungie expect to release Destiny 2 on September 8, 2017 and welcome PC players into the Destiny universe for the first time. Destiny 2 pre-orders are also off to a very strong start.

With a regular content and feature update cadence, World of Warcraft time spent grew year-over-year in the first quarter. Hearthstone set a new all-time Daily Active Users (DAUs) record last month with the release of a new expansion, Journey to Un’Goro. In April, Blizzard also launched Heroes of the Storm 2.0, bringing players back into the game.

Blizzard’s revenues from in-game content grew more than 25% year-over-year, driven by revenues from World of Warcraft in-game content and continued strength of Overwatch customization items. Activision expects to release a new content offering for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 fans, Zombies Chronicles, on May 16, 2017. The remastered collection of the franchise’s Zombies content will be available first on PlayStation 4.

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