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Activision Blizzard on Tuesday reported quarterly financials that CEO Bobby Kotick said were “wildly over in terms of expectations.”
The video game company said revenue rose to $753 million compared with $691 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company lost 3 cents per share compared with a profit of a nickel, though after items it reported a record 23 cents a share, up from 8 cents.
The company’s record third-quarter results were driven by Destiny, which Activision Blizzard says is the biggest new video game franchise launch of all time. Also contributing during the quarter were Diablo III: Reaper of Souls — Ultimate Evil Edition and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
Shares of Activision Blizzard slipped 2 percent to $19.95 on Tuesday but rose 3 percent after the closing bell when the company reported quarterly earnings.
This week, the company released Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which analysts expect will top $1 billion in sales. The game stars the image and voice of Kevin Spacey and was written by Mark Boal, who wrote and produced movies like Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kotick explained why he cast such a prominent actor in a video game.
“This is the first game — not just from us, from any company — where the mouth movement, facial features and eye contact have been perfected enough for believable dialogue. And he did a brilliant job. We hired the perfect actor for this role,” Kotick said.
Spacey promoted the game Monday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he used overly colorful language to describe how his scenes were created. See the video below.
Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com
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