Free-to-play video games... are the arch-enemy of pay-to-play companies like Activision Blizzard. The gamer's 1st quarter revenues fell 8% from last year — And since gaming juggernaut Fortnite (owned by private company Epic) took over social lives beginning July 25, 2017, Activision's stock is down 28%.
🎮 Q1 Lowlight: Monthly active gamers dropped to 345M from 374M last year.
Pwnd by Fortnite... Activision's new games aren't impressing, so it's trying out different ways to win:
- Make addicting games: Average time spent by customers on its games was 50 minutes per day last quarter.
- Learn to play their game: Fortnite trained a generation of players to pay money for extra, in-game features (virtual players need costumes) — But those sales actually fell for Fortnite from $1B to $800M.
- Build stadiums: Overwatch League (a pro e-sports tournament) depends on live-gaming with live fans of Activision's popular battle game. It's launching Call of Duty League soon, too.
Gamers need to stay focused... To deal with shrinking revenues, Activision already laid off 750 employees this year to cut costs. The still-active Acti-visionaries (new nickname) are working on its top games only — Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Warcraft — which are on their last lives. Others are already Game Over (RIP, Destiny).