Overwatch is one of Activision Blizzard's billion-dollar series, but the game hasn't been on the charts for the past 3 years.
Activision Blizzard's three most important series are Call of Duty, Candy Powder Saga, and Warcraft. The first-person arena shooter Overwatch was once one of Activision Blizzard's top star products, but it's outdated 6 years after its launch.
Activision Blizzard's recent earnings report (see chart below) shows that Overwatch and other series, such as Diablo and Tony Hawke's Professional Skateboard, have earned less than one-tenth of the company's total revenue over the past three years. 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, and December 31, 2019, our three top series– Call of Duty, Candy Crush Saga and Warcraft, together accounted for 82%, 79% and 72% of net revenue, respectively. During these three years, no other series accounted for 10% or more of the Company's net revenue. ”
If Overwatch earns less than 10% of Activision Blizzard's net revenue, it means over the following three years that Overwatch will earn less than these figures:
2019 – $649 million
2020 - $800 million
2021 – $880 million
The backdrop to this news is that Blizzard's monthly active users reached their lowest level since 2016, with only 22 million in the first quarter of 2022. Blizzard's revenue was also the lowest on record, at just $274 million in the first quarter of 2022.
However, 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.