Activision Has A Lot of Money. No...You Have No Idea

In the same month where EA is shedding jobs and closing studios to raise profitability (which has been working so far if their sudden 17% jump in stock price is any indication) Activision has posted their financials for the full year of 2012 and first quarter of 2013...and boy are they a doozy.

Activision announced net revenues have hit 4.38 billion dollars for 2012 and 1.7 billion for the first quarter of 2013 .

"Our first-quarter performance was driven by continued consumer interest in all of our key franchises," said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

“We are very pleased to report that Activision Blizzard delivered the best performance in its history. With better-than expected net revenues, record operating margins and record earnings, and over $1.3 billion in operating cash flow, we continue to set the industry success bar. I would like to thank our incredibly talented employees around the world for their passion, drive, and creativity, which continues to fuel our success.”

The earnings call pointed specifically to sales of Diablo 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (which earned Activision 1 billion in the first two weeks of sales) and Skylanders for the 2012 results, but also made mention of the sudden 1.3 million subscriber loss which effected both of World of Warcraft's Asian and West markets, leaving the game with 8.3 million subscriber base. Kotick also seemed to lower expectations for the remainder of 2013, calling the market 'uncertain' due especially to the upcoming next generation launches and the poor performance of the Wii U.

"The shift in release dates of competing products, the disappointing launch of the Wii U, uncertainties regarding next-generation hardware, and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns, as do continued challenges in the global economy. For these reasons, we remain cautious."

With that much capitol on hand one would think that Activision might be in a good place to throw some of that cash around at new IP's to see if anything sticks. Though with uncertainty for 2013, it might be a little early to hope for such a thing. If we get through 2013 with the same results, and the next-gen systems are finding their way into consumers hands, they may start to look hard at that. In the meantime, if you see Kotick at the bar ask him to buy you a drink. He can afford it.