Activision Blizzard Inc. believes it has a lot of punch prepared
for the holiday shopping season, and it's spending big to get
there.
The company recently disclosed it is spending $500 million on
"Destiny," a new space-age shooting videogame from the developers
of the blockbuster "Halo" franchise, as part of a decadelong
commitment. Activision has said it expects the game to be a
billion-dollar franchise.
Bobby Kotick, Activision's chief executive, said he believes
Destiny will "Have a long useful valuable life." "We hope it to be
the most successful new [game franchise] launch we've had," he
said.
The company said its first-quarter profit declined 35% to $293
million, or 40 cents a share, from $456 million, or 40 cents a
share--based on a dramatically higher share count--the same time a
year earlier. Revenue also fell 16% to $1.1 billion from $1.3
billion a year earlier.
Adjusting for deferred revenue and other items, Activision said
it earned 19 cents per share on $772 million in sales. Analysts on
average had been expecting 10 cents per share on $688 million in
sales, according to surveys by Thomson Reuters.
For the current quarter, Activision said it expected adjusted
earnings of 1 cent a share, below analysts expectations of 5 cents
a share. Revenue, Activision projected, will be $600 million,
higher than the $580 million analysts expect.
For the year, Activision raised its forecast by a penny on an
adjusted basis, projecting a profit of $1.27 per share, slightly
below analyst expectations of $1.29 per share. Revenue is expected
to be about $4.7 billion, roughly in line with analyst
expectations.
Write to Ian Sherr at ian.sherr@wsj.com
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