Blizzard Players Drop by 29% but Company Still Sees Rise in Sales: Why?

Urian B., Tech Times 06 May 2021, 01:05 am

Blizzard Q1 reports show a 29% drop in player base over the course of the last three years. Despite the drop in users, financially, the company was still able to grow and do well despite players leaving.

Blizzard Increase in Sales

According to the company's financial report, Blizzard sales were able to hit $2.28 billion from the previous $1.79 billion in Q1 of 2020. With the new games coming out and a lot of beloved IPs still regularly getting updates, the question is why has the company dropped in players?

The story by MSN notes that there are a few reasons behind players leaving Blizzard titles over the course of the last few years. One of the biggest reasons is that Blizzard hasn't really released a new title ever since its previous "Overwatch" back in 2016.

Blizzard Top Titles

There were a lot of remasters and re-releases that have come out like "Warcraft 3: Reforged" and even the "Diablo 2: Resurrected". However, the only fresh content to be released from Blizzard ever since then was the expansions to "World of Warcraft" as well as "Hearthstone".

There are also some major projects that are currently still in development and have been that way for years. "Diablo Immortal" and "Diablo IV" have both been announced years ago but the details are still scarce as to when the game will be released. Much similarly, "Overwatch 2" does not yet have a release date and a lot of fans have reportedly lost their patience while waiting.

Blizzard Issues Affecting Company

Blizzard already endured a lot of PR issues. One of the most high-profile ones was when Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai, a pro "Hearthstone" player, was suspended and lost all of his winnings. He was then banned from the tournament for one year after he had voiced his support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong during an official esports broadcast.

Fans have also been quite critical of Blizzard as of late after it had reported that the company's CEO Bobby Kotick got a whopping $200 million bonus right after the company laid off a whopping 190 employees. This came after the company had let go of hundreds of employees last 2019.

How Does Blizzard Still Make Money?

Due to Blizzard producing only a few esports titles and just focusing on updates to game franchises like its previous "World of Warcraft", "Hearthstone", and more recently, "Diablo", it is now likely that the revenue will still increase despite decrease in player count.

This has reportedly been proven by a particular financial report that states that profits are now trending upward. Although Blizzard's player base has reportedly dropped and its own reputation has been falling off of a cliff, the company still sports an effective way to monetize existing players. The company is also still banking on the upcoming titles to become major financial successes. However, the new Blizzard games might still take a while to release.

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Written by Urian B.