And here’s how they’re going to get it. Check out this text from a recent slideshow by Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tippl, according to Kotaku:
• Expanding Call of Duty online services and into Asia

• High velocity growth through 2015 driven by online

• Bringing Guitar Hero back up to the overall Activision margin level

• Bungie’s new blockbuster game universe

• StarCraft II expansion packs

• New World of Warcraft expansions

• Diablo III

• Blizzard Entertainment’s unannounced MMO

• Blizzard Entertainment’s growth in Asia, particularly in China

• New opportunities through Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net

• Increased shift to downloaded games

• Capturing value from Used Games, Prize Play and other adjacent
There are a few things here worth noting. Obviously, they’re interested in continuing to make gobs of cash from Call of Duty, WoW, Starcraft II, and “high velocity growth” (whatever the hell that means).
It appears they’re going to be focusing more than ever on online in coming years, and that includes downloadable games. Bungie’s new franchise gets a mention, though no details yet, unfortunately. Then there’s Blizzard’s new MMO, still unannounced, which as of now has been the subject of rampant speculation, and little else.
What about the Battle.net mention? How are they going to make more money off that? And capturing value from used games and “prize play”? Sounds like they may have something more up their sleeves for dogging the used games market. Let’s just hope it won’t affect us too much..
