Despite time-tested titles such as World of Warcraft, Blizzard appears to be losing its grip on gamers at an alarming rate. This is according to figures shared by MMO news site Massively OP, which show that the developer/publisher has managed to lose as many as 11 million players over the last three years (38 million in Q1 2018 vs. 27 million in Q1 2021)—a 29 percent loss based on its own preferred monthly active user count. Luckily for Blizzard, revenues are still up thanks to WoW Classic and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, as well as free-to-play online digital collectible card game Hearthstone.
- 38M in Q1 2018
- 37M in Q2 2018
- 37M in Q3 2018 (BFA)
- 35M in Q4 2018 (mass layoffs)
- 32M in Q1 2019
- 32M in Q2 2019
- 33M in Q3 2019 (WoW Classic)
- 32M in Q4 2019 (Blitzchung)
- 32M in Q1 2020 (COVID-19)
- 32M in Q2 2020 (COVID-19)
- 30M in Q3 2020 (COVID-19)
- 29M in Q4 2020 (COVID-19, Shadowlands)
- 27M in Q1 2021 (this quarter)
[…] the investor report is coming on the heels of some massive public relations disasters, as Activision-Blizzard forced yet another round of layoffs and investor groups alleged that CEO Bobby Kotick could pocket as much as $200M in bonuses. Last week, the company announced it was halving Kotick’s future salary and bonuses, which frankly seems like an empty gesture under the circumstances […]
Sources: Massively OP, Activision Blizzard