Activision Blizzard's Q2 2022 Investor filing has been released today, showcasing the company's performance over the last quarter. The report shows an increase in Monthly Active Users, or MAUs, for the first time since 2018, likely due to the success of Diablo Immortal before the close of the quarter.
The report shows that Activision Blizzard saw its bookings total to $1.64 billion in Q2 2022.
Notably, Blizzard has seen its first uptick in MAUs in a while jumping, from 22 million MAUs in Q1 2022 to 27 million in Q2. No doubt this is partially due to the success of Diablo Immortal, which Blizzard notes has topped mobile charts in "more than 100 countries" following its June launch. The company also stated it was ranked in the top-10 of United States app stores during June. Diablo Immortal is reported to have made Blizzard gobs of money, estimated at over $100 million in player spending since launch in June. The company also states that half of current DI accounts are new accounts to Blizzard, with the company celebrating over 30 million installs of the mobile ARPG.
However, while Activision Blizzard's numbers were up in total, the company does note that World of Warcraft bookings specifically were down year-over-year, though they do note that increased bookings last year at this time coincided with the launch of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic. However, that decline in bookings offset the growth seen in Hearthstone and Diablo Immortal.
Blizzard is looking ahead at multiple launches this year, with Overwatch 2 set to hit early access on PCs and consoles in October, as well as Wrath of the Lich King in September and World of Warcraft: Dragonflight sometime this year. The investor report also touched on the upcoming Warcraft: Arclight Rumble title, stating that in "select regions" it's undergoing testing.
Activision, meanwhile, is working on the release of this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a follow-up to 2019's remake of Modern Warfare. Additionally, the company is working on their next version of the popular Warzone battle royale, though no release date has been given for Warzone 2.0 just yet.
Activision Blizzard also highlighted its acquisitions this quarter, touting their ability to contribute to development resources, notably inn AI and machine learning. Proletariat, the Spellbreak developer, was acquired to help development work on World of Warcraft, with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stating that the company as a whole has seen a 25% uptick in developer headcount year-over-year. Year
"Our acquisitions this past quarter of Proletariat and Peltarion further boost our development resources, including our artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. Even in a challenging economic environment, with so many companies announcing hiring freezes and layoffs, our development headcount grew 25% year-over-year as of the end of the second quarter. Our talented teams are planning to release exciting new Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Overwatch content later this year. Of course, we look forward to completing our pending $95 per share all-cash transaction with Microsoft as soon as possible."
While Blizzard MAUs were up, overall Activision Blizzard MAUs were down compared to Q1 2022, with 361 million MAUs across all of Activision Blizzard in Q2 compared to 372 million in Q1 2022. This is an 11.5% drop in total MAUs year-over-year (408 million total MAUs in Q2 2021).
All of this is against the backdrop of Microsoft looking to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.5 billion. As a result of the ongoing acquisition, Activision Blizzard did not hold their typical presentation and investor call, as is customary during acquisitions.
