Morningstar | Activision is well placed to continue to succeed in a rapidly evolving video game market.
Activision Blizzard is one of the world's largest third-party video game publishers and owns some of the largest and well-known video game franchises, including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. We believe the firm is well placed to consolidate its leading position by developing compelling new versions of its existing franchises and by introducing new experiences, such as Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. We expect Activision to continue to benefit from both the upgrade cycle to the current generation of consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4), the ongoing revitalization of PC gaming, and the growth in the mobile market via its acquisition of King Digital. Activision has capitalized on the shift in the industry toward a bifurcated market consisting of major AAA blockbuster titles on one side and smaller indie games on the other side. Activision generally focuses on the higher end of the market, using its capital to fund the higher-budget blockbusters and its marketing advantage to support its titles across multiple advertising platforms. Activision's primary completion remains other large third-party publishers, such as Take-Two and EA, as well as console manufacturers (and first-party publishers) Sony and Microsoft.Like its peers, the firm is focused on engaging users beyond the initial game sale via extending the monetization window by expanding the use of multiplayer options and releasing downloadable content. Both methods encourage gamers to hold on to the original game longer than in previous generations and provide an income stream from consumers who purchase the game secondhand. Activision has used DLC and multiplayer to extend the life of multi-billion-dollar franchises such as Call of Duty, and we believe recently released franchises like Destiny and Heroes of the Storm can also sustain long-term success.We expect Activision to monetize the user base at the recently acquired King Digital by inserting third-party ads in the company’s mobile games. While we think Activision can generate some additional revenue via this path, we would caution that substantial revenue contribution could take until 2018 and beyond to appear.Activision Blizzard is a global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services. The company's segments are: Activision Publishing, Inc., which is a global developer and publisher of interactive software products and entertainment content, particularly for the console platform; Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., which is a global developer and publisher of interactive software products and entertainment content, particularly for the personal computers platform; and King Digital Entertainment, which is a global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services, particularly for the mobile platform, including for Google Inc.'s Android and Apple Inc.'s iOS.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors.
Morningstar provides data on approximately 530,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 18 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $185 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2016.
We have operations in 27 countries.
Unfortunately, this report is not available for the investor type or country you selected.
Browse all ResearchPool reportsReport is subscription only.
Thank you, your report is ready.
Thank you, your report is ready.