Blizzard Entertainment had the largest online player community in its history, with Q2 MAUsF up 50% year-over-year. Though World of Warcraft® ended the quarter at 5.6 million subscribers, Blizzard revenues are up year-over-year based on strong performance across the expanding Blizzard portfolio. On June 23, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment released, Fury of Hellfire, one of the largest non-expansion content updates to date for World of Warcraft. This new content helped stabilize the subscriber number towards the end of the quarter. World of Warcraft remains the No. 1 subscription‐based MMORPG in the world.
On April 2, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment launched Blackrock Mountain™, the second Adventure for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The release of Hearthstone on iOS and Android smartphones followed on April 14, 2015. Key engagement metrics, which were already very strong, nearly doubled year over year, largely on account of the new content and new platforms.
Blizzard Entertainment launched Heroes of the Storm on June 2, 2015 with strong critical reception. The Eternal Conflict, a series of content additions based on the Diablo® universe, was launched in June and is still ongoing, and players have responded with positivity and excitement. Blizzard announced in May that Heroes of the Storm had been added to the Road to BlizzCon® program, and major tournaments are already underway globally.
On April 23, 2015, Sanctuary’s gates were thrown open to all Chinese heroes, as Blizzard Entertainmentʹs award‐winning action role‐playing game Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ went live in China. Diablo III has now sold-through over 30 million units life-to-date globally.
Blizzard Entertainment achieved record revenues and MAUs in China this quarter, driven by the popularity of Diablo III, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm.
