Overwatch is part of Activision Blizzard’s billion-dollar franchise, but the game hasn’t made it to the top of the charts for the past three years. Activision Blizzard’s three most important franchises are Call of Duty, Candy Crush Saga, and Warcraft. The first-person arena shooter Overwatch was once one of Activision Blizzard’s top stars, but it’s outdated six years after its launch.
Activision Blizzard’s most recent earnings report (pictured below): Overwatch and other franchises like Diablo and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skateboard haven’t even earned more than half of the company’s total over the past three years. 1 in 10. Most of Activision Blizzard’s revenue is completely dominated by the above three major games such as COD, and “Overwatch” is encountering fierce competition.
Activision Blizzard wrote in its 2021 annual report: “For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our three top franchises—Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Warcraft—together accounted for 82%, 79% and 72% of net income, respectively. No other series accounted for 10% or more of the company’s net income during those three years.”
If Overwatch is less than 10% of Activision Blizzard’s net revenue, then that means Overwatch’s revenue will be lower than these numbers for the following three years:
- 2019 – $649 million
- 2020 – $800 million
- 2021 – $880 million
The background to this news is that Blizzard’s monthly active users have reached their lowest level since 2016, with only 22 million in the first quarter of 2022. In addition, Blizzard’s revenue is also the lowest ever, only $274 million in the first quarter of 2022. But with the launch of two mobile games, Diablo: Immortal and Warcraft Arc, as well as Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, Blizzard’s revenue is expected to bottom out.
