In brief: After turning in respectable first-quarter earnings, Activision Blizzard plans to expand the Call of Duty franchise. Over the next year, the visitor plans to hire at least ii,000 developers, nearly tripling its current CoD staffing. AB also confirmed a new "premium" Call of Duty title from Sledgehammer Games arrives this fall.

Thanks in part to the stay-calm pandemic, gaming companies have been turning in college than expected earnings for the first quarter of 2022. Activision Blizzard just reported net revenues of $2.28 billion for Q1 2022. The visitor had projected $2.02 billion. GAAP earnings were $0.79 per share, eight cents higher than investors were expecting. As a effect of the positive news, stock prices bounced eight percent to $93.74 equally of this morning time.

Activision's coin-maker, of form, was Call of Duty, which led the company to a 72-percent increase in business. Betwixt traditional CoD titles and its free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision tripled its monthly agile users in the concluding two years to 150 meg players. In merely Q1 2022, MAU increased xl pct thanks to its decision to incorporate Warzone into Black Ops Cold War. Its mobile CoD game also contributed more than than $1 billion in revenue since launching in 2022.

Blizzard's one-half of the business organisation has done well besides. Following the World of Warcraft expansion Shadowlands, the company saw revenue increase to $483 million, a seven-per centum gain, despite losing about ii meg MAUs. Wccftech notes that Blizzard's MAU refuse isn't likely to correct itself until Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 release, which could happen as early on as next twelvemonth.

Additionally, the visitor'south mobile games sectionalization, Seattle-based King, continues to trounce information technology with its top money-maker Processed Shell bringing in $609 million.

In the coming year, Activision plans to continue to abound the Telephone call of Duty franchise. It told investors that work is almost complete on a new title in the serial. Programmer Sledgehammer Games should deliver the unnamed game later on this yr. Seeing the success of Black Ops Cold War, Sledgehammer will also integrate Warzone into the new title.

Charlie Intel reports that Activision Blizzard's COO Daniel Alegre said that the new CoD title would leverage the "next-generation experience" to attract more players.

"The game is looking corking and on track for its fall release," Alegre said in the earnings call. "This is a built for next-generation experience with stunning visuals across entrada, multiplayer, and co-operative modes of play, designed to both integrate with and enhance the existing COD ecosystem."

In all, it has been something of a boom for Activision Blizzard. They just opened a new Sledgehammer Games studio in Toronto and program to hire more than ii,000 new developers within the adjacent year, which will triple the size of its current CoD staff. The hiring comes after the company pruned back its esports division earlier this year. Because of the pandemic, it laid off 50 staffers and restructured its esporting events to shift focus from live competitions to online-only play.

Image credit: Magnifying Drinking glass by Casimiro PT, CoD Game Stack by Seeshooteatrepeat