Activision Blizzard ends Q1 2013 with $1.324 billion net revenue, WoW loses subscribers

Revealing its quarterly financials, Activision Blizzard reported $1.324 billion in net revenue for the three months that ended on March 31, 2013. Activision Blizzard predicted $1.16 billion in net revenue for this quarter, meaning that, well, it surpassed its own estimate by $164 million. In addition, during the same period last year, Activision Blizzard earned $1.172 billion in net revenue, 12.96 percent less than what Activision Blizzard earned this quarter. However, according to CEO Bobby Kotick, there is still cause for concern: The shift in release dates of competing products, the disappointing launch of the Wii U, uncertainties regarding next-generation hardware, and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns, as do continued challenges in the global economy. For these reasons, we remain cautious. That subscriber decline Kotick referred to is the fact that the subscriber base for World of Warcraft has dipped to 8.3 million as of March 31, down 14 percent during the last three months. More specifically, 1.3 million have decided to part ways with World of Warcraft since during the last quarter financials. While Kotick is not particularly excited by this, he sure tries his hardest to remain optimistic: While we do believe further declines are likely and we expect to have fewer subscribers at year-end than we do today, World of Warcraft remains one of the most successful franchises in the history of entertainment. Activision Blizzard seems to share Kotick’s optimism, increasing its net revenue outlook for the full calendar year of 2013 from $4.085 billion to $4.22 billion. This represents a 3.3 percent increase. In short: Activision Blizzard is making a lot of money. Source: Busineswire