The nationwide stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders that started in March caused a drastic increase in video game sales for the month. Now, as we enter May, game publishers are starting to report financial results — most recently Activision Blizzard for Q1 and Electronic Arts (EA) for Q4 — that reflect the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Activision Blizzard saw a net revenue decline for Q1 when compared to last year ($1.79 billion compared to $1.8 billion) but still came in above its projections for the quarter. The company also provided key stats for some of its games, including the fact that Call of Duty: Warzone, which launched last month, has reached more than 60 million players. Also, all of Blizzard’s key franchises saw month-over-month growth in March.
According to the financial report, which you can read in full here, the company does not foresee changes to this year’s key content releases for now. However, the statement notes that this is subject to change, as all Activision Blizzard employees continue to work from home and the economic future remains uncertain.
EA, which released financials for Q4 and the entire fiscal year, reported an increase in digital net revenue for Q4 when compared to the same time period last year: $1.2 billion compared to $1.1 billion. Digital net revenue also increased for the full fiscal year, up by $604 million when compared to the 2019 fiscal year.
The company also released some key data for its popular titles. FIFA 20 has more than 25 million unique players to date, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has more than 10 million unique players to date, and The Sims 4 saw growth in its average monthly players for every quarter of the past fiscal year.
This report — which is available in full here — also notes uncertainty about how the coronavirus will impact future sales results, game releases, and events.
