According to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, the publisher has smashed third-quarter revenue forecasts by almost 20% - and this doesn’t include sales of Modern Warfare 3, which will reap income for the rest of 2011 - which will put the company on track to deliver the highest earnings per share in the company’s history.
Kotick stated that the company report net revenue of $627M is up by more than 18% on expectations of $530M, while profits have increased “year-on-year” in the third quarter from $51M to $148M. As a whole, the publisher has raised its full-year forecast for net revenue from $4.05B to $4.25B.
According to Activision, Modern Warfare’s unprecedented number of preorders figures to add $650M to the company’s coffers. “We continue to strengthen our position as the worldwide leader in interactive entertainment and the broadening of our audiences is confirmation that games are becoming as important as film and television as a mass-market form of entertainment,” stated Kotick.
Activision is riding higher than it ever has, with Call of Duty as its biggest cash cow, supplanting World of Warcraft.