Unless you've been living under a tesla cannon for the last 12 months or so, I'm sure you've noticed the staggering popularity of Blizzard's Overwatch. Launched on May 24, 2016, we learned last week that the online multiplayer shooter had surpassed 30 million registered players—a pretty amazing feat given it's yet to celebrate its first birthday.
But perhaps more impressive still is how much cash its generated in that time: over $1 billion, so suggests parent company Activision Blizzard's latest earnings report.
This, according to Activision Blizzard, makes Overwatch the company's "eighth billion dollar franchise", rubbing shoulders with the likes of Call of Duty and Skylanders.
The nitty gritty of the report can be found over here, however highlights include the fact Blizzard clocked $441 million in the first quarter of the year, which is an increase of 50 percent year-over-year; it had its biggest active "online player community" in its history, during the same period, with 41 million MAU (monthly active users); and revenues of "in-game content" were up over 25 percent from 2016.
Despite the fact Hearthstone is yet to release anything new this year, its MAUs also grew year-over-year, and Journey to Un'Goro brought in a record number of monthly players. The report also suggests the free-to-play digital card 'em up has surpassed 70 million registered players.
Again, Activision Blizzard's report can be read in full in this direction, which also looks at Call of Duty and World of Warcraft among others' bearing on the figures.
