The Call of Duty series is one of the most popular gaming series of all time.
Activision Blizzard, the game publishing company behind some of the world’s largest gaming franchises, has staked revenue of more than US$1.5bn for its full-year 2013.
The company produces the Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2 series which are some of the most played games on the market and the company expects to continue this success with future sequels and original titles.
Activision Blizzard released its annual report last night and the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, said 2013 was a monumental year for them.
“(The year) 2013 was a transformational year for Activision Blizzard and for our industry. Our transaction with Vivendi returned us to independence and eliminated the challenges and constraints of being a controlled company. The continued success of our games delivered better-than-expected financial results, including stronger net revenues and earnings per share, and over US$1.26bn in operating cash flow.”
One of the biggest events to happen in the company this year is the release of its latest mega-franchise, Destiny, which will be developed by Bungie Studios, the team behind one of the best-selling game franchises of all time, Halo.
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The game, which puts the player in the role of a soldier fighting alien hordes who have trapped mankind to one small city on Earth, has been placed as vitally important to Activision Blizzard’s financial figures for this year, with Kotick claiming they expect the game to be the start of a billion-dollar franchise like some of the previously mentioned series.
According to its 2014 estimates, Activision Blizzard has put a figure of US$4bn as its expected net income target, pushing it far ahead of its competitors.
The company also expects to roll out all the latest expansion packs, sequels and new free-to-play titles in the coming months, like Heartstone, Heroes of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm.
Other interesting information to come out of the financial report was the continuing popularity of its World of Warcraft series that makes significant revenue from its subscribe-to-play service. As of the end of last year, the game had about 7.8m subscribers across the world, making it the most-played MMORPG ever.
