Among the most recent and popular US stocks is the Activision Blizzard group, which you can discover in more detail here. You'll find information on the activities of the group in this detailed file as well as stock market data to know such as its current and historical quotation.
If the group begins to lose market shares in the realm of video games, it seems capable of bouncing back differently by developing its activities in related sectors. This was the case recently with the movie World of Warcraft. This proves that the company could easily use its successful licenses to diversify into other media and generate additional income to counteract possible declines in other activities.
While the market for games on game consoles and computers is currently experiencing a slight decline in activity, it’s quite the opposite with regard to online games on smartphones which are experiencing a very attractive increase in demand. The Activision Blizzard group seems to be well aware of this opportunity to diversify its sources of income and already has some games on mobile phones.
The Activision Blizzard group, which has now become a mature group, is also basing its expansion on takeovers of other smaller companies.
But, one of the major challenges for Activision Blizzard in the coming years will be to succeed in retaining its fans. As we have seen above, the group has already strongly disappointed some of the latter because of the long-awaited release dates too far away along with certain other disappointments. Therefore, it's a safe bet that if the phenomenon persists, the whole brand image of this company will be disparaged.
The increasingly high production cost of certain games created by the Activision Blizzard group can also be an obstacle on its results as it requires a sufficient resale price often considered too high by customers.
Finally, the group remains subject to computer pirating of some of its games as techniques are modernized and therefore records more and more losses.
The Activision Blizzard group is currently one of the largest designers and publishers of interactive video games and software for consoles and computers.
Most of its turnover comes from publishing games, with product sales in mind, followed by subscription and license sales. It's particularly known for the Call of Duty or Warcraft games.
Activision Blizzard generates most of its turnover in North America and Europe.
The world of video games is constantly evolving and therefore allows a few innovative companies like Activision Blizzard to hold their own against the competition. However, this competition remains particularly strong and the Activision Blizzard group must constantly fight to gain and maintain its market share. To help you in your fundamental analyses of the Activision Blizzard share price, we recommend that you get to know the main video game designers and distributors and therefore the direct competitors of the company that you'll find here.
Activision Blizzard is now the fourth largest video game seller in the world in terms of turnover. It runs behind the companies Tencent, Microsoft and Sony who share the first three places in the ranking.
It's immediately followed by other serious competitors like Apple, Electronic Arts, Google, NerEase, Warner Bros, King, Nintendo, Nexon, Mixi, Take-Two, GungHo, Square Enix, Dunsey, Ubisoft, Konami, DeNA , Facebook, Zynga, Sega, NCsoft or even Bandai Namco.
To finish this article, here are some important partnerships recently set up by Activision Blizzard.
In 2015, Activision Blizzard partnered with its direct competitor Sony for the development of the Call of Duty video game.
In 2016 as it prepared to launch into the field of e-sports, Activision Blizzard signed a major partnership with Facebook for the promotion and distribution of its content on the social network.
First of all, the Activision Blizzard group enjoys a very interesting positioning on the world market for its sector of activity. It is currently one of the international leaders in the computer games market with 5.8% of the market share and these market shares follow an increase of around 1.4% each year, an increase which should continue at least until 2020 according to forecasts.
The group can also count on loyal customers. As proof, Activision Blizzard organizes an annual convention each year which is entirely dedicated to its games and derivative products which attract players from all over the world and whose entrance tickets are sold in just a few minutes. This influx of visitors proves the general public's interest in the company and the strength of current and future demand. It is therefore a guarantee of loyalty over time and future sales, some games being highly anticipated by fans.
The Activision Blizzard group has built a solid reputation particularly thanks to the care it has always taken to the quality of its customer relations. It always looks to reduce the waiting time for an answer to a question asked online. To do so, it has implemented several tracking and rating systems for the service quality of their agents and advisers allowing it to improve their performance in terms of responsiveness. However, players are known to dislike waiting when they fail to install or operate a new game or when they are stuck in their game. The interest in customer satisfaction is therefore a real plus for the company's image.
Finally, the Activision Blizzard group can also count on intellectual property which is bearing fruit thanks to various franchises. The group has already developed and edited games that have become real essentials for enthusiasts such as World of Warcraft or Diablo. This group has a true capacity to create addictive games and is likely to meet a huge success with players around the world.
First if the competition in terms of paid games remains relatively low with a leadership position still retained for Activision Blizzard in certain segments, another form of competition increasingly threatens the group's results. These are of course free games or micro-paid games developed by independent developers which are attracting more and more players around the world. Because of this rise of free games or their reduced price, the Activision Blizzard group could see its number of subscribers drop dangerously in the years to come. The company could find it very difficult to position itself on this type of game or reduce its prices given the significant cost necessary for the development of certain licenses.
Some analysts in the video game sector also explain that the Activision Blizzard group could soon suffer the consequences of a lack of renewal of its flagship products on which it has relied for many years. Some licenses that are still profitable today have in fact been in use for more than 20 years and will gradually start to run out of steam. However, Activision Blizzard hasn't yet reported on real novelties likely to shake up the market like some of these old games. In the absence of renewal and new blockbuster of the genre, it could lose some of its players even the most loyal who could be seduced by competing games offering true novelty. The same goes for the speed at which the group's new games or new strands of its large licenses are brought to market. Several years often elapse between the end of one part and the release of the next, which can cause fans to lose patience who once again end up turning to competing games. Remember that the record for waiting between two games in the same saga is 8 years and relates the transition from Diablo II to Diablo III.