Activision Blizzard

’s

ATVI


Call of Duty: Mobile

that has been developed in collaboration with

Tencent

’s

TCEHY

Timi Studios generated

more than $14 million in player spending

in the first week of its release, per a report by Sensor Tower.

Markedly,

Call of Duty: Mobile

has become the fourth highest revenue generating game in China, trailing Tencent’s

Honor of Kings

and

PUBG Mobile

as well as

Fantasy Westward Journey

from

NetEase


NTES

.

Call of Duty

(“COD”) has been one of the most successful franchises by Activision. The popularity of the franchise has been benefiting in-games spending, thereby driving Activision’s net bookings and top-line growth.

In Dec 2020, Activision revealed that the

Call of Duty

franchise’s net bookings have surpassed $3 billion over the past year. Additionally,

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

has sold more units than

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

. Activision stated that it will make frequent content updates to

Call of Duty

and expand the franchise’s presence across platforms and geographies.

Call of Duty: Mobile

continues to play an important part in driving user base. Since its launch in October 2019, the title has been the highest grossing new game in app stores in the United States and has generated over $480 million in player spending during its first year. Per Sensor Tower data, lifetime revenues for Call of Duty: Mobile has reached nearly $644 million as of Dec 31, 2020.

Strong Franchise Performance Fuels Growth

Activision is riding on robust performance of its franchises including COD, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone and Candy Crush Saga. Shares are up 51.1% in the past year, outperforming the Zacks

Toys-Games-Hobbies

industry’s rally of 33.3%.

Markedly, Blizzard Entertainment’s

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

became the fastest-selling PC game, reflecting content strength.

The success of the company’s

World of Warcraft

and

COD

franchise bodes well for its solid gaming portfolio and is expected to aid the expansion of its player base. Markedly, in third-quarter 2020, Activision Blizzard’s in-game net bookings were up 76.6% year over year to $1.2 billion. Further, for 2020, the company expects net bookings to be $8.1 billion.

Activision is stepping up investments in other popular franchises as well. The company expects to deploy more resources in its franchises including Overwatch, King’s Candy Crush, Diablo and Hearthstone. This is expected to help Activision improve competitive prowess against the likes of Take Two Interactive Software, Nintendo and

Electronic Arts


EA

.

Further, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s strong portfolio of games is expected to boost its monthly active user base in the near term. You can see

the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

.

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