Activision 2011 Annual Report Download - page 25

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• The release of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure in the fourth quarter of 2011;
• The release of Lego Star Wars III, which we published on behalf of Lucas Arts in Europe and certain countries
in Asia Pacific; and
• Benefits from foreign exchange as compared to the prior year.
The increases were partially offset by lower revenues as a result of:
• The more focused release schedule in 2011 than in 2010. In 2011, Activision released nine key titles as
compared to the release of twelve key titles in 2010; and
• Lower catalogue sales of games in the music and casual games genre.
For 2010, net revenues from the Activision segment decreased as compared to 2009 primarily due to:
• The release of fewer key titles in 2010 than in 2009 and weaker sales of games in the music and casual genres.
In 2010, Activision released twelve key titles compared to the release of sixteen key titles in 2009; and
• Blur and Singularity, two new intellectual properties that were released in the second quarter of 2010, had only
limited market success. While establishing successful new intellectual properties has always been difficult, the
economic environment made it particularly challenging in 2010.
The decreases were partially offset by the:
• Strong performance from Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was released in the fourth quarter of 2010;
• Continued strong performance of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was released in November 2009; and
• The launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content packs in 2010.
Blizzard
Blizzard’s net revenues decreased for 2011 as compared to 2010, primarily due to:
• No new titles released in 2011 as compared to 2010 when World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was released in the
fourth quarter of 2010 and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released in the third quarter of 2010; and
• A decline in World of Warcraft’s subscriber base during 2011. With the launch of World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm, in the fourth quarter of 2010, the subscriber base reached a new peak at more than 12 million
subscribers at December 31, 2010. Since that time, the subscriber base has trended downward, and was
approximately 10.2 million subscribers at December 31, 2011.
These decreases were partially offset by benefits from foreign exchange as compared to prior year.
Blizzard’s net revenues increased for 2010 as compared to 2009 primarily as a result of:
• The release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in the fourth quarter of 2010;
• The release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in the third quarter of 2010;
• Growth in sales of value-added services related to World of Warcraft;
• The China region business being back “on line” for the full year of 2010; and