Profits triple at Irish arm of Call of Duty maker

Irish Examiner

a day ago

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of gaming giant, Activision Blizzard, which produces the likes of Candy Crush, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, increased more than threefold to €2.47m last year.
New accounts filed by Activision Blizzard Ireland Ltd show that the company's revenues increased by 63% from €21.65m to €35.38m.
The revenue figures are skewed as the company achieved the €35.38m revenues for the 18-month period to the end of June last compared to the revenues of €21.65m for the prior 12-month period.
The directors state that the changed reporting period should be borne in mind when considering the 2024 financial performance.
The company changed its reporting period in order to be in line with owner, Microsoft which in October 2023 took over the Call of Duty maker in a deal worth $75.4bn, marking the largest ever sale in the in the gaming industry.
The deal closed in late 2023 after competition authorities in the UK approved it.
Only last month, a federal appeals court in the US rejected a legal challenge by the US Federal Trade Commission to Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard.
The Activision Blizzard operation in Ireland has a presence in Cork and Dublin in combination with connected firm Blizzard Entertainment Ltd which operates a support centre in Cork.
The principal activity of Activision Blizzard Ireland Ltd is the quality assurance and localisation of multi-media entertainment software on behalf of Activision Blizzard.
The directors state that the company delivered a strong financial performance resulting in a profit before tax of €2.47m for the 18 month period.
They state that in the prior year, the company's pre-tax profit was €776,805.
The company recorded a post tax profit of €1.39m for last year after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.08m.
The company's operating profits more than doubled from €842,655 to €2.05m and the business benefited from €421,351 in interest receivable boosting profits.
Numbers employed by Activision Blizzard Ireland last year increased from 203 to 215 as staff costs amounted to €21.26m for the 18 months compared to €11.62m for the prior 12 months.
The €21.26m staff costs included €3.39m in share based payments as staff numbers were made up of 206 in localisation and nine in administrative staff.
The profit for 2024 also takes account of €1.33m in non-cash depreciation costs.
At the end of June last, the company was sitting on accumulated profits of €13.13m.