Activision Reports Record-Setting Results For 2011

Recommended Videos

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Activision Reports Record-Setting Results For 2011


2011 was another great year for Activison, which raked in more than $4.7 billion in revenues.

Here's something to think about the next time you find yourself irritated, frustrated or flat-out angered by Activision's business practices and insistence on keeping Bobby Kotick at the helm: in 2011, the publisher raked in $4.755 billion in GAAP net revenues [$4.489 billion non-GAAP], saw its earnings per share grow by a record-setting 17 percent and achieved a GAAP operating margin of 28 percent [30 percent non-GAAP], also a record. It also generated nearly $1 billion in operating cash flow.

34 percent of Activision's total revenues for 2011 - $1.6 billion - came from digital sales, including World of Warcraft, which ended the year with 10.2 million subscribers, and also Call of Duty Elite, which now boasts over seven million registered users, including more than 1.5 million people who paid $50 for the "annual premium" subscription. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game of the year and became the first and so far only entertainment product to break the $1 billion mark in 16 days, besting the record set by Avatar by one day. Perhaps unexpectedly, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures was not only the number-one kids game for the year but also "the biggest new IP launch in Activision's history," according to Kotick. Even Call of Duty: Black Ops, which came out in 2010, is still selling like gangbusters and managed to be the fifth-best-selling title in dollars in 2011.

Activision's outlook for 2012 is pretty much all sunshine and lollipops too. The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection, a bundle of DLC previously released to CoD Elite premium subscribers, comes out in March and two Blizzard products, presumed to be Diablo 3 and Blizzard DoTA, will also be out later this year. The company's outlook for 2012 calendary year is $4.15 billion GAAP and $4.5 billion non-GAAP.


Permalink
 

Korten12

Now I want ma...!
Aug 26, 2009
10,766
0
0
And que all of the people who will come in hating Acitivsion and or COD or both.

OT: Good for them, more money in the industry and good to see a New IP doing good for them aswell. Heard it was actually pretty good.
 

Uratoh

New member
Jun 10, 2011
419
0
0
I'm not strictly sure where I get the impression, but Kotick seems to be an absolute expert at maximizing short-term growth...though the long term profitabiliy of some things he does are questionable.
 

burningdragoon

Warrior without Weapons
Jul 27, 2009
1,934
0
0
Soooo... who gets to do a used games joke? Me? I'mma do it.

*ahem*

And think how much more money they would have made if it wasn't for those damned used games!

*bows*
 

Hal10k

New member
May 23, 2011
849
0
0
Dexter111 said:
Don't worry, you'll soon report about Activision like you're reporting about Zynga right now... they have max. another 3-5 years.
I'm unironically interested in hearing your reasoning on that.
 

Robert Ewing

New member
Mar 2, 2011
1,976
0
0
Does this mean they can make some decent games now? And of course, exclude Blizzard from that corporate dig. Blizzard games are always top notch.
 

FateOrFatality

New member
Mar 27, 2010
189
0
0
Hal10k said:
Dexter111 said:
Don't worry, you'll soon report about Activision like you're reporting about Zynga right now... they have max. another 3-5 years.
I'm unironically interested in hearing your reasoning on that.
Agreed. I suppose you could make the argument that there biggest products CoD and WoW might be getting stale, but then again more and more people are buying them all the time.
 

Loop Stricken

Covered in bees!
Jun 17, 2009
4,722
0
0
Andy Chalk said:
... and two Blizzard products, presumed to be Diablo 3 and Blizzard DoTA, will also be out later this year.
I don't know about DOTA, but Mists of Pandaria needs to come out this year. Dragon Soul raid will not last another ten months, and Blizzard have already said that there are no more content patches for Cataclysm.
 

Smooth Operator

New member
Oct 5, 2010
8,156
0
0
LIES! We all know very well the industry is near death due to pirates and those terrorist scum second hand gamers.
Their profits going up during all that and a recession... never!

Relax with the ban hammer, that was sarcasm.
 

Von Strimmer

New member
Apr 17, 2011
375
0
0
Does activision actually do new IP's? This isn't a dig I genuinely want to know. I cant remember something coming from them (or ea really) that isn't a sequel or reboot :s or a movie tie in.
 

Pearwood

New member
Mar 24, 2010
1,929
0
0
Uratoh said:
I'm not strictly sure where I get the impression, but Kotick seems to be an absolute expert at maximizing short-term growth...though the long term profitabiliy of some things he does are questionable.
When you're talking about billions of dollars does it really matter? When people think of multiplayer shooters COD is the name that instantly springs to mind, same with the three Blizzard series and their respective genres. I think Guitar Hero is one of theirs as well. That kind of brand recognition means that when that guy retires he's going to be living comfortably in the south of France for quite a while.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,756
0
0
Korten12 said:
And que all of the people who will come in hating Acitivsion and or COD or both.

OT: Good for them, more money in the industry and good to see a New IP doing good for them aswell. Heard it was actually pretty good.
Cue. Queue (Which is what you meant to type) is a line.

"And cue the X" is using "cue" as a stage direction. Like, "Cue the dancing midgets."

Anyway, DAMN YOU USED GAMING! YOU'RE KILLING THE INDUSTRY!

*ahem* We know return you to your regularly scheduled program.
 

AndyRock

New member
Dec 22, 2009
240
0
0
Jove said:
Again people, if you REALLY HATE how Activition does business, don't buy their games. Otherwise, sales for their next call of duty games, sales for their latest WoW expansion will only go up.
I really hate how activision does business, I haven't bought one of their games for a few years now, I'm just sad that stale franchises still sell so well, but I seem to be in the minority that I like my games to be different.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
0
0
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures

1. Nothing to do with, and makes no reference to, previous Spyro games.
2. Spyro is reduced to an ugly secondary character.
3. Even Kotick refers to Skylanders as a new IP.

OK, I can get behind the idea of making new games, especially for kids, but using the name of my beloved Spyro for nothing more than brand recognition? That's disgusting.

OT:
People still play COD. Ummm... yay? I don't hate Activision for giving people exactly what they want. There are plenty of other, much more logical reasons to hate Activision. Like ruining and exploiting the franchises that I love.
 

Uratoh

New member
Jun 10, 2011
419
0
0
Pearwood said:
Uratoh said:
I'm not strictly sure where I get the impression, but Kotick seems to be an absolute expert at maximizing short-term growth...though the long term profitabiliy of some things he does are questionable.
When you're talking about billions of dollars does it really matter? When people think of multiplayer shooters COD is the name that instantly springs to mind, same with the three Blizzard series and their respective genres. I think Guitar Hero is one of theirs as well. That kind of brand recognition means that when that guy retires he's going to be living comfortably in the south of France for quite a while.
Eh, I'm probably just bitter that he's profiteering franchises that used to be near and dear to my heart, and as much as I understand how it's all about the bottom line, I'd rather not see properties go down in the name of short term gains.
 

Jailbird408

New member
Jan 19, 2011
505
0
0
Where. The fuck. Is DJ HERO 3D, Activision?! You ever going to release that thing? You said you were just putting the franchise on hiatus for 2011, and now it's 2012, so give me a goddamn release date!
 

Pearwood

New member
Mar 24, 2010
1,929
0
0
Uratoh said:
Eh, I'm probably just bitter that he's profiteering franchises that used to be near and dear to my heart, and as much as I understand how it's all about the bottom line, I'd rather not see properties go down in the name of short term gains.
My point was it isn't short term. COD, Guitar Hero, WoW and Starcraft and, to a lesser extent, Diablo are all the first names you think of when you think of their genres. As much flak as COD gets on these forums you can't argue that it isn't competenent at what it sets out to do; provide a framework for multiplayer shooting.

I've never seen a problem with Activision and that's coming from someone who's left wing by UK standards never mind US. They have real talent and real enthusiasm behind their games and the marketing is perfect. Keeping in mind that as publishers the marketing is all they're really responsible for it's hard to find fault with them.