Activision Reports ‘Destiny’ Has Over 9.5 Million Guardians
Activision held its third quarter earnings call today, in which it was revealed that Destiny has over 9.5 million registered users across the 4 platforms. While this is not a definitive number, it does give the impression that 9.5 million is close to the number of units sold through to consumers.
There’s a relationship to sell through, but it’s not exact as some people have more than one profile,” the publisher noted during a financial call Q&A, where it noted that Bungie is “already underway on its next full game.”
Another interesting statistic that came out of the Q&A with investors on the conference call today was the engagement of the Destiny community. Eurogamer reported that it was revealed during the call that the average gaming sessions across the four platforms is clocking in at a three hour average daily.
The results for Destiny‘s sales have been a song that Activision has trumpeted as hard and as often as they can. The launch of Destiny was the largest new franchise in the history of the video game industry. It also is part of the Top 10 largest video game launches of all time in the U.S.
What those exact numbers are will likely be shrouded in corporate mystery for all time as the NPD has not reported on exact sales figures for some time. Assuming 9.5 million sales is a fairly accurate figure, it is a very respectable number for a new IP by the developer that created Halo and brought Microsoft relevance in the console gaming space. The current record holder for number of units sold in the first person shooter genre is Call of Duty: ModernWarfare 2 which was last reported at nearly 30 million copies sold.
According to the SEC filings from Activision, the publishing giant has also posted its best third quarter in history with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) revenue with $753 million posted. This is over $50 million higher than the $691 million posted in the same filing period in 2013. This is despite revenue fall offs from Skylanders and Diablo III for the next gen consoles.
Adding to Activison’s good news was that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the most pre-ordered game of the year, outpacing Destiny. How many pre-orders this amounts to is also unknown. The Inquisitr has previously reported on the declining pre-orders of the game in the physical retail space, but the fact that Activision is playing up the amount of preorders speaks to a strong digital sell through of the game.
With 9.5 million guardians fighting on Earth and beyond to crush the returning darkness, Activision and Bungie are sitting back and enjoying the figures while we look forward to the next expansion to Destiny, which launches next month.
[Image Source: GamesPress]
