Activision Blizzard revenues climb, even as World of Warcraft subs tank

For the three month period ending June 30, Activision Blizzard saw revenues climb year-on-year: $759 million, as compared with $658 million. The company grew its digital revenues 27 percent year-over-year, to a record $611 million for the quarter.

The company once again trumpeted the twin successes of Hearthstone and Destiny. Add in Heroes of the Storm, and these three games generated over a quarter of a billion dollars across the past three months, for a combined total of $1.25 billion. Three months ago Destiny and Hearthstone alone had generated "nearly $1 billion."

The company said that Destiny now has 20 million registered players, which means Hearthstone has around 50 million, since their combined total is "more than 70 million."

And though Call of Duty's popularity may be old news, note that the franchise continues to grow for the company -- 2014's Advanced Warfare has proved to be a sustained success, with players snapping up microtransactions and downloadable content.

World of Warcraft, however, continued to shed users: 1.5 million left the game during the past three months; around 3 million left in the prior quarter, meaning the MMO has shed nearly half of its audience so far this year. It now has 5.6 million subscribers. Clearly, however, its other games are offsetting the venerable MMO's downturn.