Activision Blizzard closes out 2021 on a high note as revenue crosses $8.8 billion

An eventful couple of weeks for Activision Blizzard has lead to a somewhat straight forward end for the company's Q4 and 2021 fiscal year.

The company shared a press release for the close of its fiscal year, eschewing the usual conference call and earnings presentation we'd typically see alongside that publication, likely due to its impending acquisition at the hands of Microsoft, should the FTC give its blessing.

This means we won't have the usual color about which Activision Blizzard-published games are tracking upwards in terms of MAUs, or hear any investor-and-executive banter about the company's future plans and thoughts on current events during a Q&A.

At least from the information released, we know that company-wide monthly active users came in at 371 million for the three month period ending December 31, 2021, down slightly from Q4 2020's 397 million.

That 371 million MAU are split between King's 240 million, Activision's 107 million, and Blizzard's 24 million.

We do however still get to glance at the company's quarterly and full-year revenues, net bookings, and profit. We'll likely see a few more in the coming year as Activision Blizzard currently expects the big Microsoft deal to close closer to June 30, 2023, which is the end of Microsoft's own fiscal year.

In the here and now, Activision Blizzard's Q4 saw the company generate $2.16 billion in net revenue, down from 2020's $2.41 billion. Further down the balance sheet, that amounts to around $682 million in operating income, up from 2020's $594 million.

For the full year, Activision Blizzard reported $8.8 billion in net revenues for the year ending December 31, 2021, up from approx. $8.09 billion the year before. Breaking that down a bit, $7.66 billion of that overall net revenue came purely from digital sources.

In terms of net bookings, which include revenue minus certain deferrals surrounding "license fees, merchandise, and publisher incentives, among others" as well as some from goods like DLC and microtransactions, came to $8.35 billion, down from 2020's $8.42 billion.

Specifically, $1.14 billion in net bookings came from only in-game transactions, down from $1.32 billion the year prior.

For full-year operating income, Activision Blizzard saw an uptick. For 2021 it reported $3.26 billion in operating income, up from 2020's $2.73 billion

Of the big three--between Activision, Blizzard, and King--Blizzard saw the least cash, both in terms of revenues and operating income. According to the report, Activision alone brought in $3.48 billion in net revenue and $1.67 billion in operating income, King reported $2.58 billion in net revenue and $3.5 in operating income, and Blizzard saw $1.82 billion in net revenue with $698 in operating income.