Games company Activision Blizzard, which owns the Overwatch, Candy Crush and Call of Duty brands, has recorded pretax profit of €2.5 million in Ireland.
The video games giant saw a considerable spike in profits during an extended financial period, despite turnover remaining largely similar on a monthly basis, in new accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).
The company reported figures for an 18-month period, encompassing January 2023 to June 2024, following Microsoft’s acquisition of it for $68.7 billion (€60.4 billion) in 2023.
Activision Blizzard Ireland Limited, which has an office in Dublin, saw turnover increase to €35.4 million from €21.7 million in the prior financial period, up 63 per cent.
Despite the longer financial period reported, administrative expenses only saw a slight increase of 24 per cent – from €3.4 million to €4.2 million. As a result, profits rose by nearly 220 per cent from €776,805 at December 21st, 2022, to €2,479,763 as of June 30th, 2024.
Following the acquisition, the company’s ultimate parent company is now the Microsoft Corporation, but is directly controlled by Schiphol-based Activision Blizzard International BV.
In January 2024, Microsoft cut 1,900 jobs from its video games divisions including a number of staff in Ireland. However, the average monthly employees rose during the period from 203 at year end 2022 to 215 in its most recent period.
Employees’ wages and salaries during the period nearly doubled from €8.17 million to €15.87 million by last year, a 94 per cent rise. Activision Blizzard issued share-based payments to staff of €3.4 million during the period.
Activision Blizzard Ireland, based at Eastpoint Business Park in Dublin, is part of the company that publishes the first-person shooter series Call of Duty; team-based action series Overwatch; the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series; as well as trading card game Hearthstone.
