Activision Blizzard today announced "better-than-expected" financial results for the second quarter of 2012.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Activision Blizzard's GAAP net revenues were $1.08 billion, as compared with $1.15 billion from Q2 2011.
The company's net revenues were $1.05 billion on a non-GAAP basis, as compared with $699 million for the second quarter of 2011.
"On a non-GAAP basis, we delivered record Q2 and first half net revenues, operating income and earnings," said chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick. "Our performance was driven by strong audience demand for our great games. We are very excited to have announced our expanded investment in China through Activision Publishing's agreement with Tencent to bring the Call of Duty franchise to the Chinese market."
For the first six months of 2012, Blizzard had three best-selling games in North America and Europe. – Skylanders Spyor's Adventures, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Diablo 3.
"For the remainder of the year, we are excited about our product slate which includes Activision Publishing's Skylanders Giants and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria," Kotick added.
Despite the positive results and the increase in Activision Blizzard's financial outlook for full year 2012, Kotick expressed caution moving forward.
"We remain cautious given economic uncertainty, risks to consumer spending especially during the holiday season and the recognition that the majority of our key franchise launches are still ahead of us," Kotick concluded.
While Activision Blizzard's financial reports may have been "better-than-expected", the company has to have some concern with their staple MMO, World of Warcraft. As of June 30, 2012 subscriptions for World of Warcraft had fallen to 9.1 million.
In other sales for the second quarter, GAAP net revenues from digital channels were $343 million and represented 32% of the company's total revenues. On a non-GAAP basis, net revenues from digital channels were a record $497 million and represented 47% of the company's total revenues.
Looking ahead, Activision expects to release Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's final two content collection add-ons – Chaos Pack and Final Assault – which are set to release on Xbox 360 on August 9 and September 6, 2012 respectively.
