Activision Blizzard To Exceed Predicted Q1 Earnings

Activision Blizzard has announced it expects its Q1 earnings to surpass prior predictions. The publisher attributes this to “the better-than-expected performance of its titles at retail “ and predicts its net revenues will surpass the $860m USD outlook provided last month.“Global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft remains strong despite the challenging economic environment,” said CEO Robert Kotick.“We exceeded our quarterly financial goals as the videogame market continues to grow and our franchises continue to perform.”“This bodes well for our upcoming spring titles Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which are inspired by theatrical feature films releases, Prototype, a new intellectual property, and the release of Guitar Hero Smash Hits as well as continued sales of our recently released Guitar Hero Metallica game.”As such, the publisher now expects to pull in around $4.2bn USD for the calendar year.