Here's Why Activision Blizzard's Strong Sales Momentum Will Continue

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Aug 20, 2014

Gaming company Activision Blizzard (ATVI, Financial) is doing well this year. Impressive sales of new consoles have got off to a solid start, while rival Electronic Arts (EA) is struggling after a tough time with the release of its latest Battlefield game.

Activision was careful about how the new console cycle would influence its sales in 2013, yet the organization seems to have done exceptionally well for itself. The latest cycle of its shooter franchise Call of Duty has been exceptionally successful, guaranteeing the top spot in November in front of EA's Battlefield 4 and sending Take-Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto V down the pecking order.

Actually, Call of Duty: Ghosts crossed $1 billion in sales to retailers just a day after its dispatch, bettering Grand Theft Auto V that had taken three days to break the imprint. Be that as it may, Activision had brought down its standpoint for the final quarter when it reported results right on time in November, refering to rivalry from Electronic Arts' Battlefield 4.

At the point when your main adversary fails to flame

Anyway now it would appear that Activision is likely winning this battle as the Electronic Arts offering was tormented by specialized problems. The amusement crashed, players were not able to save their progress in the single-player crusade, while online-multiplayer was surrey, proceeding with EA's talent for screwing up launches (after the Simcity disaster in March).

Furthermore, the EA studio that created Battlefield 4 has been busy fixing up the diversion and has put all other improvement on hold.

A promising console cycle

Over eight years, Sony has sold over 80 million units of the PS3. The Xbox 360 has also sold an indistinguishable number of units. Thus, both consoles have sold an aggregate of roughly 160 million units in their eight-year-run so far. Looking ahead, analysts are anticipating strong sales of both consoles. Sony is expected to sell 49 million units of the Playstation 4 before the end of 2017, emulated by Xbox One at 38 million units. The unit sales of the two new-gen consoles have outperformed their predecessors as of now and this is a gigantic positive for amusement publishers.

Likewise, Sony is projecting to sell 10 million units of the Ps3 in the current fiscal year, which means that Activision should see some tailwinds from the more seasoned era consoles as well within a brief span of time. Besides, fittings sales should enhance further going ahead as Microsoft and Sony participate in a value war. The Xbox One is estimated $100 more than the PS4, and this is presumably one of the reasons why Microsoft is changing over less number of gamers than Sony.

Hence, it is likely that Microsoft will lower the cost of the Xbox One to spur reception and contend with the PS4 and profit diversion publishers by and large. Presently, Activision Blizzard is among the top two amusement publishers all around by revenue, which is the reason the organization is as of now among the significant beneficiaries of the new console cycle and this energy could keep going ahead.

The pipeline

Activision has been making some great moves to strengthen its arrangement of games. The organization has presented Diablo III – which had sold more than 14 million copies on the PC stage – for the console. Also, Activision is planning to dispatch the Reaper of Souls expansion pack for Diablo III. Activision hasn't abandoned World of Warcraft yet. It released new substance for the amusement and administration promised that Activision will keep on investing "intensely" in the diversion.

Conclusion

Activision performed solidly in a year of transition and things should improve from here. The organization's latest amusement is governing the charts and the pipeline is also looking great. With everything taken into account, Activision Blizzard has the capability of turning into one of the top feature amusement stocks in 2014.