WOW makes up half Acti-Blizz's business

By Oli Welsh Published 29 January, 2009

Made USD 400 million last year, says analyst.

If you ever doubted that the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games was all about World of Warcraft, this should set you straight. A games industry analyst has reckoned that the Blizzard MMO accounted for half of the publishing giant's earnings in the last fiscal year.

According to Edge, Arvind Bathia of Stern Agee has estimated that WOW subscriptions and sales added up to earnings per share of 30 out of 60 cents, or USD 400 million, in the company's fiscal year which ended in December.

Considering the other half of Activision Blizzard boasts runaway successes like Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, that's no mean feat. WOW's subscriber base rose to 11.5 million last December, in the wake of new expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • butler` #1 3 years ago

    That is fucking scary tbh. To me it means that the suits on the acti- part of the equation will undoubtably do their best to influence and alter WoW.

    Conspiracy maybe, but money men will always be money men.

  • Red-Moose #2 3 years ago

    11.5 Million subscribers x around €10/month = over a billion /year from WOW.


  • IronCladChicken #3 3 years ago

    @Red Moose
    They use a different (& cheaper) system in countries like China.

  • Rirekon #4 3 years ago

    "WOW makes up half Acti-Blizz's business"

    All those surprised raise their hands... anyone?

  • Emth #5 3 years ago

    @butler`

    Some would argue that is already taking place.

  • anomagnus #6 3 years ago

    pfft, for the tin foil helmet guys, consider this

    blizzrd didn't NEED to enter a merge, it was doing fine as it was , thankyouverymuch, kthxbye

    Now that it has entered the merger, it contributes over half the profits to the merged business

    in other words, no one can force it to do anything, i imagine it throws its weight around constantly

    now, one shitty patch comes out (omfg!) and the sky is falling....

  • actionfitz #7 3 years ago

    cue 'Scrooge McDuck' style money-bins all round for the execs to swin in.

  • Matfink #8 3 years ago

    Why the fook have their shares dropped to 1986 levels then (despite the recession, which just seems to have increased game spending) ?!!
    [ed] Smells of manipulation in readiness for the planned big buyback...
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/09 @ 13:02

  • stevetuck #9 3 years ago

    only 400million? they must spend alot of the gold they make on useless junk then

    perhaps they are buying mammoths for all the staff members :o
    Edited by 2 at 29/01/09 @ 13:14

  • Scurrminator #10 3 years ago

    the company is acti-blizz don't forget, they get as much say

  • penhalion #11 3 years ago

    Blizzard are so screwed if/when WOW finally looses it's appeal.

    Edit:

    @Matfink

    Shares drop on news like this because the company is too reliant on a single source of income. It's the same reason that TakeTwo isn't a viable buyout due to it's huge reliance on the GTA franchise. People are already becoming disillusioned with GTA so sales are not guaranteed. Especially when each new itteration requires a larger budget. Eventually the budget will eclipse the sales and it's game over.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/09 @ 13:50

  • Roamer #12 3 years ago

    Shouldn't it be closer to 2 billion in earnings? 400 million dollar profits would make more sense, but that'd mean that they spent roughly 1,5 billion on development.... (?)

    Or is there a reason I failed maths in upper secondary?
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/09 @ 15:09

  • Maldoror #13 3 years ago

    I'm truly amazed at how Activision has managed to convince everyone that they bought up Blizzard. Vivendi Univeral owned Blizzard and had done that since 1998, they were actually bought up all the way back in 1994, for less than $10 million.

    Even though the Vivendi/Activision deal ended up on paper as a merger, it was actually Vivendi which initially made a bid, to buy up Activision. It was decided that Activision employees had more experience overall on both PC and consoles, where as Vivendi employees mostly only dealt with PC Games (and mostly Blizzard). So a lot of Vivendi people were fired and their position, was overtaken by Activision people.

    Kinda sucks for you, if your company buys another and they end up firing you and giving someone from the other company your job.


  • wowgoldpaladin #14 3 years ago

    With all the money they are making I hope they'd consider reducing the monthly fees. I didn't pay every month and grind endlessly for wow gold for nothing. Well, if greediness does penetrate to their brains I do hope that they'd somehow wake up and release patches or features that are worth every dollar we are spending.