Activision Blizzard Q1 Financials Round-Up News

Activision Blizzard has announced its earnings for the first quarter of its 2009 financial year (January 1st - March 31st 2009) and is reporting net revenues of $981 million (£651 million) for the quarter, which is $121 million (£80 million) up on its previous predictions.

That equates to a net income of $189 million (£125 million) for the company during Q1, $146 million (£97 million) more than its net income for the same period last year. As a result of these figures, Activision Blizzard is raising its year-long predictions for calendar 2009 by $100 million (£66 million) to $4.3 billion (£2.6 billion) in net revenues.

The company is also expecting a successful second quarter of 2009 and has predicted net revenues of $1 billion (£664 million) for the period, within which Activision Blizzard is releasing a raft of film licensed titles, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits and Modern Hits on DS, as well as Radical Entertainment's Prototype.

Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, stated, "Our better-than-expected first quarter results were driven by strong global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, despite challenging economic times. For the quarter, we were the #1 third-party console and handheld publisher in North America and the #1 third-party publisher for the Nintendo Wii platform worldwide, according to The NPD Group, Chart-Track and Gfk."

During an earnings report conference call (thanks for the transcription, Seeking Alpha), Activision Blizzard CEOs were quick to detail the long-term success of these Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises for the company.

Bobby Kotick announced that Guitar Hero has now passed through the $2 billion sales mark, a milestone that only Super Mario and Madden have previously achieved in gaming history.

Michael Griffith [another Acti Blizz CEO and President - can you have two of those? - ed.], expanded on Guitar Hero's success against arch rival Rock Band, noting that the series now accounts for 55% of all rhythm/music game sales in the US and Europe while adding that Guitar Hero is now outselling Rock Band by a factor of 10-to-1 in the European territory.

Griffith also put the final word on Guitar Hero: Van Halen's existence by stating, "First, we will continue to deliver exciting expansion titles, starting with the first half releases of Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Then, in the back half, we plan to release Guitar Hero: Van Halen, which will deliver the ultimate rock experience centred around the best guitar riffs of all time."

CoD is also faring pretty well according to Griffith, who revealed that Infinity Ward's original Modern Warfare title has now achieved lifetime sales of 13 million units. He also referred to Modern Warfare 2 under the Call of Duty moniker for the first time.

A few choice words were selected for the publisher's next Tony Hawk game after the series' hiatus last year: "We are also planning to release our reinvention of Tony Hawk with a very innovative and interactive game that lets consumers experience the thrill of skateboarding like never before," noted Griffith. "Our goal from the start was to reinvent this franchise back to its roots where we engaged a broad, mass market consumer, and we feel good about what this game can do. We will also unveil specifics at E3."

Bizzare Creations' first game for Activision Blizzard after its acquisition by the publisher last year was also spoken about by Griffith, who anticipates a release of the game in the back half of 2009:

"Additionally, we expect to release our highly anticipated racing game Blur from Bizarre Creations. From a business perspective, we are targeting Blur to do for racing what Call of Duty did for shooters, and that was the goal when we originally acquired Bizarre Creations to make this game."

In a final piece of news that's spun-off from these financials, it appears Activision Blizzard may be preparing to commission films and TV shows of its World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero franchises.

At least that's what Reuters is reporting today, citing sources "familiar with the discussions", who specify that Guitar Hero is being pegged for a reality TV show or possible concert tour, while CoD and WoW may be destined for the silver screen.

To add to these rumours, Activision Blizzard's CEO and President, Bobby Kotick, reportedly said the Guitar Hero franchise "might make for a good TV show or a good concert tour," in a meeting prior to the post-earnings conference call.