Activision Blizzard


ATVI

recently announced that the new expansion of its digital card game,

Hearthstone: March of The Lich King

, was live.

This expansion includes 145 new cards, along with Death Knight cards that will be added for free for all players. Besides, it also introduces 18 Signature cards, a new level of rarity that includes special card art.

Hearthstone has been one of the most cherished franchises of Blizzard. Its monthly average players summed up to 44.5 billion as of November 2022, which depicted growth of 13.7% year over year.

This new expansion, which will once again unleash the unholy power of Arthas Menethil as he leads his army into battle, is expected to excite players and bolster growth for Hearthstone further.

What Could Aid Growth at Activision Blizzard?

Per

PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2022-2026

, the global gaming industry is expected to be worth $321 billion by 2026.

This serves as an opportunity for Activision Blizzard to expand its user base and aid its top line, which is currently lagging. In third-quarter fiscal 2022, the company’s net bookings declined 3% year over year and total revenues also fell 14% to $1.782 billion. This could be a result of the company’s poor slate of releases and also the lifting of the COVID restrictions, which have brought people back outdoors.

However, the company has been working on strengthening its gaming pipeline to retain existing users and also add new ones.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

, which was released on Oct 28, broke franchise records as it crossed $1 billion in worldwide sales in the first ten days. Player engagement was over 200 million hours and over 1 billion matches across PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms.

Activision is also set to launch

Call of Duty: Warzone

Mobile in 2023, which is a free-to-play battle royale mobile game with up to 120 players, allowing them to share social features like friends and chat channels. Already 20 million players have pre-registered for the game on Google Play.

Blizzard’s

Diablo

series, which is launching its fourth installment in 2023, is much awaited by players. The title will support cross-play and cross-progression across platforms and will also engage live service and provide ongoing storytelling.

Shares of Activision Blizzard have gained 14.4% year to date against the Zacks

Consumer Discretionary

Sector, which fell 32.7%.

Activision Blizzard to Face Competition

Though this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is strengthening its gaming pipeline, it still faces tough competition from competitors like

Electronic Art

s

EA

and

Take-Two Interactive


TTWO

.

You can see


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


.

Shares of Electronic Arts have declined 3.4% year to date. However, in second-quarter fiscal 2023, its net bookings were up 4% year over year, which is further expected to bolster with the release of

Dead Space

and

Wild Hearts

in 2023.

Shares of Take-Two have declined 43% year to date. The company has recently launched Marvel’s

Midnight Suns

, which could add to its top line. It expects fiscal 2023 revenues to jump 73.3% year over year.

However, Activision is in talks of getting acquired by

Microsoft


MSFT

. Though the deal is facing anti-trust issues in the United States as well as the UK and EU, if successfully closed, this will help the gaming giant battle its competitors.

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