EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 718877
Filing Year: 2023
Filename: 718877_10-K_2023_0001628280-23-004842.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a leading global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services. We develop and distribute content and services on video game consoles, personal computers (“PCs”), and mobile devices. We also operate esports leagues and offer digital advertising within some of our content. The terms “Activision Blizzard,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” are used to refer collectively to Activision Blizzard, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For a discussion of the history of the formation of our Company, including our year and form of incorporation, refer to Part I, Item 1 “Business” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Merger Agreement
On January 18, 2022, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”) and Anchorage Merger Sub Inc. (“Merger Sub”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, Microsoft agreed to acquire the Company for $95.00 per issued and outstanding share of our common stock, par value $0.000001 per share (the “Shares”), in an all-cash transaction. On April 28, 2022, the Company’s stockholders adopted the Merger Agreement at a special meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, following consummation of the merger of Merger Sub with and into the Company (the “Merger”), the Company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft. As a result of the Merger, we will cease to be a publicly traded company. We have agreed to various customary covenants and agreements, including, among others, agreements to conduct our business in the ordinary course during the period between the execution of the Merger Agreement and the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”). We do not believe these restrictions will prevent us from meeting our debt service obligations, ongoing costs of operations, working capital needs or capital expenditure requirements.
If the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain specified circumstances, we or Microsoft will be required to pay a termination fee. We will be required to pay Microsoft a termination fee of approximately $2.27 billion under specified circumstances, including termination of the Merger Agreement due to our material breach of representations, warranties, covenants or agreements in the Merger Agreement. Microsoft will be required to pay us a reverse termination fee under specified circumstances, including termination of the Merger Agreement due to a permanent injunction arising from Antitrust Laws (as defined in the Merger Agreement) when we are not then in material breach of any provision of the Merger Agreement and if certain other conditions are met, in an amount equal to (1) $2.5 billion if the termination notice is provided prior to April 18, 2023, or (2) $3.0 billion if the termination notice is provided at any time after April 18, 2023.
The consummation of the Merger remains subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of certain regulatory approvals. On December 8, 2022, the United States Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) issued an administrative complaint against the Company and Microsoft alleging that the Company and Microsoft executed the Merger Agreement in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45, which, if consummated, would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 18 and Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45. The Company filed an answer to the FTC’s administrative complaint on December 22, 2022, and thereafter filed an amended answer on January 4, 2023. The administrative trial is currently scheduled to take place before an FTC administrative law judge starting August 2, 2023.
The two parties are continuing to engage with regulators reviewing the proposed transaction and are working toward closing in Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals and satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions.
For additional information related to the Merger Agreement, please refer to the Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 21, 2022, as supplemented by the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on April 15, 2022, and other relevant materials in connection with the proposed transaction with Microsoft that we will file with the SEC and that will contain important information about the Company and the Merger.
China License Agreements
Activision Blizzard had licensing agreements with NetEase, Inc. (“NetEase”) covering the publication of several Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. titles in Mainland China. These agreements, which contributed approximately 3% of Activision Blizzard’s consolidated net revenues in both 2021 and 2022, expired in January 2023.
Activision Blizzard is committed to finding alternative ways to serve the community in Mainland China affected by the expiry of these agreements. The co-development and publishing of Diablo® Immortal™ is covered by a separate agreement with NetEase, which remains in place. In addition, Call of Duty®: Mobile is governed by agreements with another third party that are unaffected.
Our Strategy and Vision
Our objective is to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We are a worldwide leader in the development, publishing, and distribution of high-quality interactive entertainment content and services, delivering engaging entertainment experiences to our network of connected players on a year-round basis. In pursuit of our objective, we focus on three strategic pillars: expanding audience reach; deepening consumer engagement; and increasing player investment.
Expanding audience reach. Building on our strong established franchises and creating new franchises through compelling content is at the core of our business. We endeavor to expand our network and reach as many consumers as possible by offering our content on multiple platforms, particularly mobile, the largest and fastest growing platform, and delivering compelling experiences across multiple business models (e.g., premium, free-to-play, subscription-based).
Driving deep consumer engagement. Our high-quality entertainment content not only expands our audience reach, but it also drives deep engagement with our franchises. We design our games to provide a depth of content that offers consumers the opportunity to engage for a long period of time following a game’s release. In addition, our games are designed to provide players the ability to connect with each other socially within our communities, thus delivering more value to our players and providing additional growth opportunities for our games.
Increasing player investment. The connected, online nature of our network enables us to offer content and player investment opportunities directly to our consumers on a year-round basis. In addition to purchasing full games or subscriptions, players can invest in our games by purchasing incremental in-game content. These digital revenue streams tend to be more recurring and have relatively higher profit margins. In addition, we generate revenue through offering advertising within certain of our games.
Our Segments
Based upon our organizational structure, we conduct our business through three reportable segments, each of which is a leading global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services based primarily on our internally-developed intellectual properties.
(i) Activision Publishing, Inc.
Activision Publishing, Inc. (“Activision”) delivers content through both premium and free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from full-game and in-game sales, as well as by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies that distribute Activision products. Activision’s key product offerings include titles and content for Call of Duty, a first-person action franchise. Activision also includes the activities of the Call of Duty League™, a global professional esports league.
(ii) Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (“Blizzard”) delivers content through both premium and free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from full-game and in-game sales, subscriptions, and by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies that distribute Blizzard products. Blizzard also maintains a proprietary online gaming platform, Battle.net®, which facilitates digital distribution of Blizzard content and selected Activision content, online social connectivity, and the creation of user-generated content. Blizzard’s key product offerings include titles and content for: the Warcraft® franchise, which includes World of Warcraft®, a subscription-based massive multi-player online role-playing game, and Hearthstone®, an online collectible card game based in the Warcraft universe; Diablo® in the action role-playing genre; and Overwatch® in the team-based first-person action genre. Blizzard also includes the activities of the Overwatch League™, a global professional esports league.
(iii) King Digital Entertainment
King Digital Entertainment (“King”) delivers content through free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from in-game sales and in-game advertising on mobile platforms. King’s key product offerings include titles and content for Candy Crush™, a “match three” franchise.
Other
We also engage in other businesses that do not represent reportable segments, including our Activision Blizzard Distribution (“Distribution”) business, which consists of operations in Europe that provide warehousing, logistics, and sales distribution services to third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software, our own publishing operations, and manufacturers of interactive entertainment hardware.
Products
We develop interactive entertainment content and services, principally for console, PC, and mobile devices, and we market and sell our games primarily through digital distribution channels. Our products span various genres, including first- and third-person action/adventure, role-playing, strategy, and “match three,” among others. We primarily offer the following products and services:
•premium full-games, which typically provide access to main game content after purchase;
•free-to-play offerings, which allow players to download the game and engage with the associated content for free;
•in-game content for purchase to enhance gameplay (i.e., microtransactions and downloadable content) available within both our premium full-games and free-to-play offerings;
•subscriptions for players in World of Warcraft that provide for ongoing access to the game content; and
•advertising services for third-party companies to reach and engage with our players, primarily within our free-to-play offerings.
Providing additional content and experiences within franchises has increased opportunities for player investment outside of premium full-game purchases. This has allowed us to shift from our historical seasonality to a more consistently recurring and year-round revenue model. In addition, if executed properly, it allows us to increase player engagement with our games and content.
Product Development and Support
We focus on developing wholly-owned intellectual properties backed by well-designed, high-quality games with regular content updates. We aim to build interactive entertainment content with the potential for broad reach, sustainable engagement, and year-round player investment. It is our experience that established intellectual properties then serve as the basis for related new products and content that can be released over an extended period of time. We believe that the development and distribution of products and content based on established franchises enhances predictability of revenues and the probability of high unit volume sales and operating profits. We intend to continue development of content based on our owned intellectual properties in the future, and in recent years have increased the size of our development teams, a trend that we expect to continue, but at more moderated levels.
We develop and produce our titles using a model in which individual game studios have primary responsibility for the development and production process, including the supervision and coordination of internal and, where appropriate, external resources. We believe this model allows us to deploy the best resources for a given task, including by supplementing our internal expertise with top-quality external resources on an as-needed basis.
While most of our content is developed by our internal studios, we also engage independent third-party developers to create content on our behalf. From time to time, we also acquire the license rights to publish and/or distribute software products that are, or will be, independently created by third-party developers.
We provide various forms of support to our game studios when developing a product. Central technology and development teams review, assess, and provide support to products throughout the development process. Quality assurance personnel are also involved throughout the development and production of published content. We subject all such content to extensive testing before public release to ensure compatibility with appropriate hardware systems and configurations and in an effort to minimize the number of bugs and other defects found in the products. To support our content, we generally provide 24-hour game support to players, primarily online.
Marketing, Sales, and Distribution
Many of our products contain software that enables us to connect with our gamers directly. This allows us to communicate and market directly to our customers, including through customized advertising and in-game messaging based on customer preferences and trends. Our marketing efforts also include: activities on online social networks; other online advertising; public relations activities; print and broadcast advertising; coordinated in-store and industry promotions (including merchandising and point of purchase displays); participation in cooperative advertising programs; direct response vehicles; and product sampling. From time to time, we also receive marketing support from hardware manufacturers, producers of consumer products related to a game, and retailers in connection with their own promotional efforts, as well as co-marketing from promotional partners.
Our game products and content are generally available in a digital format, which allows consumers to purchase and download the content at their convenience directly to their console, PC, or mobile device through our platform partners, including Apple Inc. (“Apple”), Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”), Google Inc. (“Google”), Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (“Sony”), and Valve Corporation (“Valve”). Blizzard utilizes its proprietary online gaming platform, Battle.net, to distribute most of Blizzard’s content and selected Activision content directly to PC consumers.
In addition to serving as a distribution platform, Battle.net offers players communications features, social networking, player matching, and digital content delivery and is designed to allow people to connect regardless of which of our games on Battle.net they are playing.
Our physical products are available for sale in outlets around the world. These products are sold primarily on a direct basis to mass-market retailers, consumer electronics stores, discount warehouses, game specialty stores, and other stores, or through third-party distribution and licensing arrangements.
Manufacturing
We prepare master program copies for our products on each release platform. With respect to products for consoles, such as for Microsoft and Sony, our disk duplication, packaging, printing, manufacturing, warehousing, assembly, and shipping are performed by third-party subcontractors or distribution facilities owned by us.
Microsoft and Sony generally specify or control the manufacturing and assembly of finished products and license their hardware technologies to us. In return, we pay an applicable royalty per unit once the manufacturer fills the product order, even if the units do not ultimately sell. We deliver the master materials to the licensor or its approved replicator, who then manufactures the finished goods and delivers them to us for distribution under our label.
Significant Customers and Our Franchises
Customers
While the Company does sell directly to end consumers in certain instances, such as sales through Battle.net, in other instances our content is distributed to end consumers via platform providers, such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony, and Valve, or retailers, such as Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Walmart.
Customers and platform providers exceeding 10% or more of our consolidated net revenues and consolidated gross receivables were approximately as follows:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
Net Revenues:
Apple Inc. 20 % 17 % 15 %
Google Inc. 18 % 17 % 14 %
Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. 13 % 15 % 17 %
Microsoft Corporation * * 11 %
At December 31,
2022 2021
Gross Receivables:
Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. 22 % 22 %
Microsoft Corporation 20 % 20 %
Google Inc. 10 % *
* Did not account for 10% or more of our consolidated net revenues or consolidated gross receivables for the noted periods.
Our Franchises
For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, our three franchises-Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush-collectively accounted for 79%, 82%, and 79%, respectively, of our net revenues. No other games or content outside of these franchises comprised 10% or more of our net revenues in those periods.
Competition
We compete for the leisure time and discretionary spending of consumers with other interactive entertainment companies and software competitors, as well as with providers of different forms of entertainment, such as film, television, social networking, music, and other consumer products.
The interactive entertainment industry is intensely competitive, and new interactive entertainment software products and platforms are regularly introduced. We believe that the main competitive factors in the interactive entertainment industry include: product features, game quality, and playability; brand name recognition; compatibility of products with popular platforms; access to distribution channels; online capability and functionality; ease of use; price of content; marketing support; and quality of customer service.
In addition to third-party software competitors, integrated video game console hardware and software companies, such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, compete directly with us in the development of software titles for their respective platforms, while at the same time acting as key distribution channels and payment gateways for our products and services through their digital storefronts. Apple and Google are similarly positioned on mobile devices.
As our teams have contributed to transforming gaming into social experiences, enabling players to find purpose and meaning through games, we believe connecting these communities together is the next step in our industry. This can be seen by established and emerging competitors seeing opportunity for virtual worlds filled with professionally produced content, user generated content and rich social connections. As investments in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics, and user interface and experience capabilities are becoming more competitive, we believe that our proposed Merger with Microsoft will better enable our ambitions in this dynamic and highly competitive environment.
Intellectual Property
Like other interactive entertainment companies, our business is significantly dependent on the creation, acquisition, use and protection of intellectual property. Some of this intellectual property is in the form of copyrighted software code, patented technology, and other technology and trade secrets that we use to develop and run our games. Other intellectual property is in the form of copyrighted audio-visual elements that consumers can see, hear, and interact with when they are playing our games.
We develop a majority of our products based on wholly-owned intellectual properties, such as Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. In other cases, we obtain intellectual property through licenses and service agreements. Further, our products that play on consoles and mobile platforms include technology that is owned by the platform provider and is licensed non-exclusively to us for use in the relevant product. We also license technology from other providers in developing our content and services. While we may have renewal rights for some licenses, our business is dependent on our ability to continue to obtain the intellectual property rights from the owners of these rights on reasonable terms and at reasonable rates.
We are actively engaged in enforcement of our copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret rights against potential infringers of those rights along with other protective activities, including monitoring online channels for distribution of pirated copies and participating in various enforcement initiatives, education programs, and legislative activity around the world. For our PC products, we use technological protection measures to prevent piracy and the use of unauthorized copies of our products. For other platforms, the platform providers typically incorporate technological protections and other security measures in their platforms to prevent the use of unlicensed products on those platforms.
Our People
Our continued success is directly related to our ability to attract, recruit, enable, retain, and develop diverse and exceptional talent. In this section, we provide information about our employees, our initiatives to provide opportunities to further develop careers and enhance the experience of our employees, our commitment to excellence, diversity, equity and inclusion, and related employment matters.
Overview: As of December 31, 2022, Activision Blizzard had approximately 13,000 full-time and part-time non-temporary employees, with approximately 72% in North America, approximately 22% in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”) region, and approximately 6% in the Asia Pacific region. Of these employees, approximately 69% either work directly on, or support, our game and technology development.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DE&I”): We believe that a diverse, inclusive culture committed to excellence and measured by performance enables us to capitalize on the strengths of our workforce to exceed players’ and fans’ expectations and meet our business objectives. We remain committed to building and sustaining a welcoming, inclusive culture through DE&I practices and programs throughout the employee experience.
Our Corporate Governance Principles and Policies demonstrate our commitment to diversity at the Board of Directors level, providing that the initial list from which any new independent director nominee is chosen includes qualified female and racially/ethnically diverse candidates. Similarly, when we recruit new senior leadership we expect candidate slates at the vice president level and above to be diverse, and aim to recruit diverse candidates across the Company. During 2022, we increased the percentage of women on our Board of Directors from 20% to 33%. Further, as of December 31, 2022, 22% of our Board of Directors are members of underrepresented communities.
In 2021, in connection with our announcement by our CEO, Mr. Kotick, of Transformational Goals for our organization, we committed to increase the percentage of women and non-binary employees by 50% by October 2026. Further, our required training programs underscore our commitment to maintaining a respectful workplace culture. For example, every employee is required to take our online “Way2Play” Training, which covers a wide range of ethics and compliance topics, including workplace respect. In 2022, we required all U.S. employees to be trained on our new Workplace Integrity Policy, to help ensure a culture free of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. This training will be expanded to non-U.S. based employees in 2023. This policy, along with mandatory live training, aims to ensure that all employees understand their responsibilities with respect to conduct that can detract from a welcoming, respectful workplace committed to excellence. We also offer leadership and management development opportunities on the topics of unconscious bias and inclusive leadership, and train our recruiting workforce in diverse sourcing strategies.
Our overall goal in hiring is to provide an objective and equitable process that helps us recruit the very best talent we can find and we utilize an array of resources and tools aimed at ensuring women, underrepresented ethnic groups (“UEGs”), and other diverse employees are appropriately represented in our workforce. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to better serve our players in almost 200 countries and creates a more inspiring culture that fosters creativity and innovation.
We continually invest in tools and systems that allow us to better track representation of women and UEG candidates at the applicant, interview, and hiring stages of our recruiting processes, helping to reinforce our goal of having diverse candidate slates for open positions. As of November 30, 2022, approximately 26% of our global employee population identifies as women or non-binary, up from approximately 24% in November 2021. Representation for UEGs in the U.S. was approximately 38% as of November 30, 2022, up from approximately 36% in November 2021.
We have invested in additional initiatives-from expanding opportunities in the gaming and technology space for underrepresented communities to mentorship and sponsorship programs for our current teammates and future leaders. In 2021, in connection with our Transformational Goals (described further below under the heading “Actions to Enhance Our Workplace Experience”), we committed to invest $250 million over the following ten years in initiatives that foster expanded opportunities in gaming and technology for underrepresented communities. Additionally, our work to support the Call of Duty Endowment in 2022 resulted in 15,987 veteran job placements and more than $1 billion in positive economic impact for the veteran community.
Compensation and Benefits: The main objective of our compensation program is to provide compensation that attracts, retains, motivates, and rewards employees who operate with excellence in a highly competitive and technologically challenging environment. We seek to do this by linking compensation (including annual changes in compensation) to overall Company and business unit/franchise performance, as well as each individual’s contribution to the results achieved. The emphasis on overall Company performance is intended to align our employees’ incentives with the interests of our shareholders. We continue to make efforts across our global organization to promote equal pay practices, as demonstrated by the disclosure of our Global Pay Equity Review for 2021 results in our most recent annual Environmental, Social, Governance (“ESG”) report. Further, we have announced improved benefits such as increased holiday, wellness, and vacation time off.
We always endeavor to offer benefits that enable our employees and their families to live healthier and more secure lives. Examples include: 401(k) with matching Company contributions; a comprehensive well-being program; paid leave programs; medical insurance; prescription drug benefits; dental insurance; vision insurance; accidental death and dismemberment insurance; critical illness insurance; life insurance; disability insurance; health savings accounts; flexible spending accounts; and benefits to support current and hopeful parents. We frequently upgrade our benefit portfolio by seeking out pioneer partners that give our employees unique and supportive benefit experiences. A more comprehensive list of our benefits can be found at https://benefitsforeveryworld.com (this corporate website, and the contents thereof, is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K nor deemed filed with the SEC).
In 2021, the Company reviewed our compensation and incentive programs and implemented changes to our compensation to enhance employee equity ownership and align our equity compensation practices more closely with industry peers. As a result of this review, the Company made changes to our bonus and equity programs so that all eligible employees received all or a portion of certain incentives in the form of Company equity for 2021. Similarly, for 2022 the Company is expecting to deliver certain of its annual performance plans in the form of Company equity to further align the interests of our employees with the interests of our shareholders.
Developing Careers and Growing Leaders: Recognizing that ours is a rapidly changing industry with a requirement for constant innovation, developing our talent base is vital to our continued success. Our talent processes are focused on career and leadership development opportunities through promotion and internal mobility, performance management, and strategic talent assessment and succession planning. In order to ensure a continuing commitment to excellence and a recognition that performance is a prerequisite to sustained success, we try to ensure our employees have a clear understanding of their strengths and development opportunities. We believe this transparency in communication fosters a collaborative and productive relationship between employees and their managers. Our performance management process begins with the establishment of goals, followed by encouraged regular check-ins on progress and performance so that employees have an understanding of their strengths, areas for improvement, and how they are contributing to the success of the Company. We assess employee contributions to our Company results and culture so that we can recognize and reward their contributions. Additionally, on an annual basis, we conduct an organizational health and performance review process with our senior leadership and segment, business, franchise, and function leaders, focusing on our high-performing and high-potential talent, diversity and inclusion, and the performance and succession for our most critical roles.
Engaging Employees: Employees across the Company have the opportunity to join and contribute to one of our nine Employee Network Groups (“ENGs”). These groups enrich our employees’ experiences, our culture, and our business by driving inclusion, cultural awareness, professional development, networking, and community involvement. Employee engagement also plays a critical role in how we identify and improve the way we work. We capture and act on the voice of our employees through multiple means, including pulse surveys, listening sessions and Upward Feedback, an annual process through which employees share constructive actionable feedback to their managers through an anonymous survey, enabling awareness regarding managers’ inclusive behaviors and commitment to living our values. Through this process we encourage our employees to provide honest, candid feedback about their experiences working for the Company. This process enables us to provide an enriching, rewarding experience for our employees. In 2022, we had 90% of eligible managers receive feedback and overall positive ratings increased across the Company, and within each business unit, as compared to the prior year.
Actions to Enhance Our Workplace Experience: The Company regularly introduces new initiatives to enhance our culture and ensure a welcoming, inclusive, diverse workplace committed to excellence. Continuing to provide a model workplace in our industry remains a priority for the Company.
On October 28, 2021, Mr. Kotick announced transformational workplace excellence goals and practices (collectively, the “Transformational Goals”). As part of our workplace excellence goals, we accomplished the following in 2022:
•In furtherance of our goal to increase the percentage of women and non-binary individuals by 50% over the next five years - We have made meaningful progress. As of November 30, 2022, approximately 26% of our global employee population identifies as women or non-binary, up from approximately 24% in November 2021, and up from approximately 23% at the time the goal was announced.
•Investing $250 million over the next ten years to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent - As part of this commitment, in 2022 we launched Level-Up U, a three-month training program for engineers seeking to launch their careers in the gaming industry. For the inaugural class of Level-Up U engineers, over 100 offers to program applicants were accepted, with a 73% rate of overall diversity, including 45% women and non-binary individuals and 40% from UEGs.
•In furtherance of our zero tolerance policies with respect to certain types of workplace conduct - We significantly expanded our Ethics and Compliance resources to increase our ability to conduct faster investigations and ensure greater consistency across investigations of all types across the Company. In 2022, we added 26 Ethics and Compliance professionals and we have quadrupled the size of the Ethics and Compliance team since July 2021.
•Increasing visibility on pay equity - Since the announcement of this commitment, we have shared the results of our U.S. Pay Equity Review 2020 and Global Pay Equity Review for 2021, which highlight that, after accounting for factors that impact pay like role, location, tenure, and job classification, in the U.S., women at the Company on average earned slightly more than men at the Company for comparable work in 2020 (women received approximately one dollar and one cent for every dollar received by men), and globally, women and those who do not identify as men at the Company on average earned one dollar for every dollar received by men at the Company for comparable work in 2021. We also included a median pay analysis in our 2021 ESG Report and published our EEO-1 Report.
In connection with the announcement of the Transformational Goals, in October 2021, Mr. Kotick requested that his compensation be reduced to the lowest amount permitted to be paid to exempt employees under California law. Consistent with this request, Mr. Kotick’s base salary for 2022 was $62,500 and he did not receive any equity awards or bonus payments.
Our Board of Directors’ Workplace Responsibility Committee, formed in November 2021, has been engaged in overseeing the Company’s progress in successfully implementing its workplace excellence policies, procedures, and commitments. The Workplace Responsibility Committee requires management to develop key performance indicators and/or other means to measure progress and ensure accountability, with executive management providing frequent progress reports to the Workplace Responsibility Committee, which regularly briefs the full Board of Directors. Any changes to Mr. Kotick’s annual and long-term compensation will only occur after a determination by the Workplace Responsibility Committee of appropriate progress toward the achievement of our workplace excellence objectives.
Unionization: Our employees in the U.S. are not covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, in May 2022, a small group of quality assurance workers at our Raven Software studio in Wisconsin voted in favor of forming a union with the Communication Workers of America (the “CWA”). In December 2022, a small group of quality assurance workers for Blizzard in New York also voted in favor of forming a union with the CWA. On December 27, 2022, the Proletariat studio in Boston, which was recently acquired by Blizzard, announced the formation of a union and the CWA filed a petition for union representation with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”). The NLRB announced that the mail ballot election would be scheduled to begin January 24, 2023; however, the CWA withdrew its petition on January 24, 2023. We deeply respect the rights of all employees to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union and exercise all other National Labor Relations Act rights. Across the Company, we believe that a direct relationship between managers and team members allows us to quickly respond and deliver the strongest results and the greatest opportunities and incentives for employees. As discussed in Part I, Item 1A under “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, while the Merger Agreement is in effect, we are also subject to certain interim covenants with respect to various matters (including, among other things, with respect to collective bargaining agreements and employee benefit plans) concerning the operation of our business during the pendency of the Merger.
Workplace legal matters and related risks: For information regarding legal actions against the Company regarding workplace concerns and related matters, see Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Sustainability
We have a responsibility to operate sustainably. We have established and disclosed Scopes 1, 2 and estimated Scope 3 emissions and are developing a roadmap to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in accordance with the Science Based Targets Initiative Corporate Net-Zero Standard. Our rapid conversion towards a fully digital business is enabling us to set and achieve important sustainability goals. As a result of our focus and progress thus far, we have reduced packaging waste by 70% as compared to our baseline year of 2019, surpassing our original ambitious goal of a 50% reduction by 2024.
Long Term Total Shareholder Return
The below total shareholder returns (“TSR”) information is provided to illustrate the comparison of the Company’s long term TSR to the identified peers and index. Other performance measures are included in Part II, Item 5 under “Stock Performance Graph” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and will be included in our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Over the 10 years ended December 31, 2022, the Company delivered an average annual TSR of 23%, ahead of the peer group median of 18% and significantly ahead of the S&P 500 at 10%. Over the 20 years ended December 31, 2022, the Company’s average annual TSR was 21%, ahead of the peer group median of 11% and significantly ahead of the S&P 500 at 8%.
The peer group for purposes of this long term TSR data is the Company’s peer group as identified in its definitive Proxy Statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting, which meeting was held in June 2022, and has been updated to reflect any changes in corporate structure of the peers. The peer group consists of Adobe Inc., eBay Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Fox Corporation., Intuit Inc., Liberty Media Corporation, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., Netflix Inc., Paramount Global, PayPal Holdings, Inc., salesforce.com, Inc., ServiceNow, Inc., Sirius XM Holdings Inc., The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.
Information about our Executive Officers
Our executive officers and their biographical summaries are provided below:
Name Age Position
Robert A. Kotick 59 Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard
Daniel Alegre 54 President and Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard
Armin Zerza 53 Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard
Grant Dixton 49 Chief Legal Officer of Activision Blizzard
Brian Bulatao 58 Chief Administrative Officer of Activision Blizzard
Robert A. Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard
Robert A. Kotick, who serves as our Chief Executive Officer, has been a director of Activision Blizzard since February 1991, following his purchase of a significant interest in the Company, which was then on the verge of insolvency. Mr. Kotick was our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from February 1991 until July 2008, when he became our President and Chief Executive Officer. He served as our President from July 2008 until June 2017. Mr. Kotick is also a member of the board of trustees for the Harvard-Westlake School. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Committee of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In addition, Mr. Kotick is the co-founder and co-Chairman of the Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit, public benefit corporation that seeks to help organizations that provide job placement and training services for veterans.
Daniel Alegre, President and Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard
Daniel Alegre has served as our Chief Operating Officer since April 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Alegre held a number of leadership positions at Google, a technology company specializing in internet-related services and products, from 2004 to 2020, including serving as President of Global Retail and Shopping, where he led the initiatives to embed e-commerce across all Google product areas and to help diversify beyond advertising into the retail transactions business. Prior to that, Mr. Alegre was President of the Google’s Global and Strategic Partnerships organization, working across all of Google’s core business lines to create and foster key strategic relationships with some of the world’s largest partners. Mr. Alegre was also instrumental in Google’s international expansion, serving as President of Google’s Asia-Pacific and Japan businesses living in China, Singapore, and Tokyo and as Vice President of the Latin America business, overseeing a massive expansion in both regions. Prior to joining Google, Mr. Alegre was Vice President at Bertelsmann Media, running a division of BMG Music in Latin America as well as Partnerships of the Bertelsmann eCommerce Group in New York City. Mr. Alegre holds a B.A. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, as well as dual M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School. On December 13, 2022, Mr. Alegre notified the Company that he plans to leave for another opportunity upon completion of the current term of his employment under his employment agreement with the Company, which expires on March 31, 2023.
Armin Zerza, Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard
Armin Zerza has served as our Chief Financial Officer since April 2021. Prior to that, he served as the Company’s Chief Commercial Officer from 2019 to 2021, as the Chief Operating Officer of Blizzard from 2017 to 2019, and as Chief Financial Officer of Blizzard from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Zerza joined Activision Blizzard in August 2015 with more than 20 years of senior leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, serving in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Mr. Zerza has held a number of senior roles across multi-billion-dollar businesses at Procter & Gamble, including as Director of Procter & Gamble’s global M&A team and CFO of the European Baby Care and Latin America divisions. Mr. Zerza also served as a board member of the Italy Procter & Gamble-Fater and Spain Procter & Gamble-Arbora & Ausonia joint ventures. Mr. Zerza holds a degree from Vienna University.
Grant Dixton, Chief Legal Officer of Activision Blizzard
Grant Dixton has served as our Chief Legal Officer since June 2021. From 2006 to 2021, Mr. Dixton held a number of positions of increasing responsibility within the legal department of The Boeing Company, an aerospace company and leading manufacturer in space and security systems, most recently as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, in addition to serving as a member of the company’s Executive Council. Prior to joining The Boeing Company, Mr. Dixton served in the White House as Associate Counsel to the President. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dixton practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States and for the Honorable J. Michael Luttig at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Dixton holds an A.B. degree in history from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Brian Bulatao, Chief Administrative Officer of Activision Blizzard
Brian Bulatao has served as Chief Administrative Officer of Activision Blizzard since March 2021. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Bulatao served as the Under Secretary of State for Management from 2018 to 2021, directly responsible for the budget, security, IT infrastructure, consular affairs and global talent management of the U.S. State Department’s 70,000 plus workforce based in 190 countries around the world. Prior to that, Mr. Bulatao served as Chief Operating Officer at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2018, where he also led diversity and inclusion initiatives. Before joining the CIA, Mr. Bulatao held a number of leadership positions in private equity and investment companies, having served as Senior Advisor at Highlander Partners from 2016 to 2017 and Managing Director at Pallas Capital Partners from 2015 to 2017, helping companies grow organically and through acquisitions and creating transformational value through strategic positioning. Prior to that, Mr. Bulatao held executive and CEO roles at The Nefab Group, co-founded Thayer Aerospace with fellow West Point graduates, and served as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Bulatao is a retired Infantry Captain and a distinguished graduate of the US Army Ranger School. Mr. Bulatao holds a BS degree in Engineering Management from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.
Additional Financial Information
See “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” under Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for a discussion of our practices with regard to several working capital items. See “Management’s Overview of Business Trends” under Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for a discussion of the impact of seasonality on our business.
Available Information
Our website, located at https://www.activisionblizzard.com, allows free-of-charge access to our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to those documents filed with or furnished to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The information found on our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this or any other report that we file with or furnish to the SEC.
The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
Activision Blizzard Disclosure Channels to Disseminate Information
We disclose information to the public concerning Activision Blizzard, Activision Blizzard’s products, content and services, and other items through a variety of disclosure channels in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public. Some of the information distributed through these disclosure channels may be considered material information. Investors and others are encouraged to review the information we make public in the locations below.* This list may be updated from time to time.
•For information concerning Activision Blizzard and its products, content and services, please visit: https://www.activisionblizzard.com.
•For information provided to the investment community, including news releases, events and presentations, and filings with the SEC, please visit: https://investor.activision.com.
•For the latest information from Activision Blizzard, including press releases and the Activision Blizzard blog, please visit: https://www.activisionblizzard.com/newsroom.
•For additional information, please follow Activision Blizzard’s and Lulu Cheng Meservey’s (Activision Blizzard’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer) Twitter accounts: https://twitter.com/atvi_ab and https://twitter.com/lulumeservey. Except with respect to communications regarding Activision Blizzard, Ms. Meservey’s social media communications from https://twitter.com/lulumeservey are personal communications of Ms. Meservey and are not communications on behalf of Activision Blizzard.
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* These corporate websites and social media channels, and the contents thereof, are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K nor deemed filed with the SEC.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. RISK FACTORS
Risk Factors Summary
Below is a summary of the principal risks associated with an investment in the Company. This summary should not be relied upon as an exhaustive list of the material risks facing our business.
•the Merger, the pendency of the Merger Agreement, or our failure to complete the Merger (including due to failure of receipt of all required regulatory approvals);
•uncertainty about current and future economic conditions and other adverse changes in general political conditions in any of the major countries in which we do business;
•decline in demand for our products and services if general economic conditions decline;
•fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
•our ability to deliver popular, high-quality content in a timely manner;
•negative impacts on our business resulting from concerns regarding our workplace, including associated legal proceedings;
•our ability to attract, retain, and motivate skilled personnel;
•future impacts from COVID-19;
•the level of demand for our games and products;
•our ability to meet customer expectations with respect to our brands, games, services, and/or business practices;
•competition;
•our reliance on a relatively small number of franchises for a significant portion of our revenues and profits;
•negative impacts from the results of collective bargaining, legal proceedings related to unionization or campaigns by unions directed at our workforce;
•our ability to adapt to rapid technological change and allocate our resources accordingly;
•the increasing importance of digital sales and the risks of that business model;
•our ability to effectively manage the scope and complexity of our business;
•our reliance on third-party platforms, which are also our competitors, for the distribution of products;
•our dependence on the success and availability of video game consoles manufactured by third parties and our ability to develop commercially successful products for these consoles;
•the increasing importance of free-to-play games and the risks of that business model;
•the risks and uncertainties of conducting business outside the U.S., including the need for regulatory approval to operate, the relatively weaker protection for our intellectual property rights, and the impact of cultural differences on consumer preferences;
•insolvency or business failure of any of our business partners;
•the importance of retail sales to our business and the risks of that business model;
•any difficulties in integrating acquired businesses or realizing the anticipated benefits of strategic transactions;
•seasonality in the sale of our products;
•fluctuation in our recurring business;
•the risk of distributors, retailers, development, and licensing partners or other third parties being unable to honor their commitments or otherwise putting our brand at risk;
•our reliance on tools and technologies owned by third parties;
•our use of open source software;
•risks associated with undisclosed content or features in our games;
•impact of objectionable consumer- or other third-party-created content on our operating results or reputation;
•outages, disruptions, or degradations in our services, products, and/or technological infrastructure;
•cybersecurity-related attacks, significant data breaches, fraudulent activity, or disruption of our information technology systems or networks;
•significant disruption during our live events;
•catastrophic events;
•climate change;
•provisions in our corporate documents and Delaware state law that could delay or prevent a change of control;
•other legal proceedings;
•increasing regulation in key territories over our business, products, and distribution;
•changes in government regulation relating to the Internet;
•our compliance with evolving data privacy laws and regulations;
•scrutiny regarding the appropriateness of the content in our games and our ability to receive target ratings for certain titles;
•changes in tax rates and/or tax laws and exposure to additional tax liabilities; and
•changes in financial accounting standards or the application of existing or future standards as our business evolves.
The following are detailed descriptions of our Risk Factors summarized above.
We wish to caution the reader that the following important risk factors, and those risk factors described elsewhere in this report or in our other filings with the SEC, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those stated in forward-looking statements contained in this document and elsewhere. These risks are not presented in order of importance or probability of occurrence. Further, the risks described below are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. Any of these risks may have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, income, revenue, profitability, cash flows, liquidity, or stock price.
Risks Related to the Merger
While the Merger Agreement is in effect, we are subject to certain interim covenants.
On January 18, 2022, we entered into the Merger Agreement with Microsoft and Merger Sub, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, pursuant to which Microsoft agreed to acquire the Company in an all-cash transaction for $95.00 per share of our issued and outstanding common stock.
The Merger Agreement generally requires us to operate our business in the ordinary course, subject to certain exceptions, including as required by applicable law, pending consummation of the Merger, and subjects us to customary interim operating covenants that restrict us, without Microsoft’s approval (such approval not to be unreasonably conditioned, withheld, or delayed), from taking certain specified actions until the Merger is completed or the Merger Agreement is terminated in accordance with its terms. These restrictions could prevent us from pursuing certain business opportunities that may arise prior to the consummation of the Merger and may affect our ability to execute our business strategies and attain financial and other goals and may impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
The announcement and pendency of the Merger may result in disruptions to our business, and the Merger could divert management's attention, disrupt our relationships with third parties and employees, and result in negative publicity or legal proceedings, any of which could negatively impact our operating results and ongoing business.
In connection with the pending Merger, our current and prospective employees may experience uncertainty about their future roles with us following the Merger, which may materially adversely affect our ability to attract and retain key personnel and other employees while the Merger is pending. Key employees may depart because of issues relating to the uncertainty and difficulty of integration or a desire not to remain with us following the Merger, and may depart prior to the consummation of the Merger. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that we will be able to attract and retain key employees to the same extent that we have been able to in the past.
The proposed Merger has caused disruptions to our business or business relationships with our existing and potential customers, suppliers, vendors, landlords, and other business partners, and this could have an adverse impact on our results of operations. Parties with which we have business relationships may experience uncertainty as to the future of such relationships and may delay or defer certain business decisions, seek alternative relationships with third parties, or seek to negotiate changes to or alter their present business relationships with us. Parties with whom we otherwise may have sought to establish business relationships may seek alternative relationships with third parties.
The pursuit of the proposed Merger has placed an increased burden on management and internal resources, which may have a negative impact on our ongoing business. It also diverts management’s time and attention from the day-to-day operation of our remaining businesses and the execution of our other strategic initiatives. This could adversely affect our financial results. In addition, we have incurred and will continue to incur other significant costs, expenses, and fees for professional services and other transaction costs in connection with the proposed Merger, and many of these fees and costs are payable regardless of whether or not the pending Merger is consummated.
Any of the foregoing, individually or in combination, could materially and adversely affect our business, our financial condition and our results of operations and prospects.
The Merger may not be completed within the expected timeframe, or at all, for a variety of reasons, including the possibility that the Merger Agreement is terminated, and the failure to complete the Merger could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and the market price of our common stock.
There can be no assurance that the Merger will be completed in the expected timeframe, or at all. The Merger Agreement contains a number of customary closing conditions that must be satisfied or waived prior to the completion of the Merger, including, among others, (1) the absence of any court order or law prohibiting (or seeking to prohibit) the consummation of the Merger, (2) the termination or expiration of any applicable waiting period or periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (as amended) and specified approvals under certain other antitrust and foreign investment laws, subject to certain limitations, (3) compliance by us and Microsoft in all material respects with our respective obligations under the Merger Agreement, and (4) subject to specified exceptions and qualifications for materiality, the accuracy of representations and warranties made by us and Microsoft, respectively, as of the signing date and the closing date.
The Merger Agreement contains customary mutual termination rights for us and Microsoft, which could prevent the consummation of the pending Merger, including a right for either party to terminate the Merger Agreement in certain cases if the Merger was not completed by January 18, 2023 (the “Initial Termination Date”), subject to automatic extension in certain cases. The Initial Termination Date was automatically extended to April 18, 2023 (since the Merger was not completed by the Initial Termination Date and the regulatory closing conditions were the only conditions remaining outstanding as of the Initial Termination Date), and such date is subject to further automatic extension to July 18, 2023, if the regulatory closing conditions are the only conditions that remain outstanding as of 11:59 p.m., Pacific time, on April 18, 2023.
The Merger Agreement also contains customary termination rights for the benefit of each party, including if the other party breaches its representations, warranties, or covenants under the Merger Agreement in a way that would result in a failure of the other party’s condition to closing being satisfied (subject to certain procedures and cure periods). Additionally, the Merger Agreement provides termination rights, if certain conditions are met, including (1) for Microsoft, if our Board of Directors changes its recommendation in favor of the Merger, and (2) for us, if our Board of Directors had authorized entry into a definitive agreement with respect to a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Merger Agreement) prior to us receiving stockholder approval of the Merger (which has now been received).
If the Merger is not completed within the expected timeframe or at all, we may be subject to a number of material risks, including:
•the market price of our common stock may decline to the extent that current market prices reflect a market assumption that the Merger will be completed;
•if the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain specified circumstances, we or Microsoft will be required to pay a termination fee, including that we will be required to pay Microsoft a termination fee of approximately $2.27 billion under specified circumstances, and Microsoft will be required to pay us a reverse termination fee ranging from $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion under specified circumstances;
•some costs related to the Merger must be paid whether or not the Merger is completed, and we have incurred, and will continue to incur, significant costs, expenses and fees for professional services and other transaction costs in connection with the proposed transaction with Microsoft, as well as the diversion of management and resources towards the Merger, for which we will have received little or no benefit if completion of the Merger does not occur; and
•we may experience negative publicity and/or reactions from our investors, employees, customers, partners, suppliers, vendors, landlords, and other business partners.
Stockholder litigation could prevent or delay the closing of the pending Merger or otherwise negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.
We may incur additional costs in connection with the defense or settlement of stockholder litigation in connection with the pending Merger. Such litigation may adversely affect our ability to complete the pending Merger. We could incur significant costs in connection with such litigation, including costs associated with the indemnification obligations to our directors and officers. Such litigation may be distracting to management and may require us to incur additional, significant costs. Such litigation could result in the Merger being delayed and/or enjoined by a court of competent jurisdiction, which could
prevent the Merger from becoming effective. See Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of complaints filed.
Completion of the proposed transaction with Microsoft is subject to the closing conditions contained in the Merger Agreement, including certain regulatory approvals, which may not be received, may take longer than expected or may impose conditions that are not presently anticipated or that cannot be met, and if these closing conditions are not satisfied or waived, the proposed transaction will not be completed.
Various consents, clearances, approvals, authorizations and declarations of non-objection, or expiration of waiting periods (or extensions thereof), from certain regulatory and governmental authorities in the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom and certain other jurisdictions are included in the Merger Agreement as conditions to completing the proposed transaction with Microsoft. On December 8, 2022, the FTC issued an administrative complaint against the Company and Microsoft alleging that the Company and Microsoft executed the Merger Agreement in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45, which, if consummated, would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 18 and Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45. For more information regarding the FTC complaint regarding the pending Merger, see Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, the proposed transaction with Microsoft may be reviewed under antitrust statutes or foreign direct investment regimes of other governmental authorities, including U.S. state laws.
In deciding whether to grant the required regulatory approvals, consents or clearances, the relevant governmental entities may consider the effect of the proposed transaction with Microsoft on competition within their relevant jurisdictions. Regulatory and governmental entities may impose conditions on their respective approvals, in which case lengthy negotiations may ensue among such regulatory or governmental entities, Microsoft and us. Such conditions, any such negotiations and the process of obtaining such regulatory approvals, consents or clearances could have the effect of delaying or preventing consummation of the proposed transaction with Microsoft.
Subject to the terms of the Merger Agreement, we have agreed to use our reasonable best efforts to take all actions and to do, or cause to be done, all things necessary, proper or advisable pursuant to applicable laws or otherwise to consummate the proposed transaction with Microsoft in the most expeditious manner practicable. Nonetheless, certain conditions to the completion of the pending Merger are not within our or Microsoft’s control, and we cannot predict when or if these conditions will be satisfied (or waived, as applicable). There can be no assurance that all required approvals will be obtained or that all closing conditions will otherwise be satisfied (or waived, if applicable), and, if all required approvals are obtained and all closing conditions are satisfied (or waived, if applicable), we can provide no assurance as to the terms, conditions and timing of such approvals or that the pending Merger will be completed in a timely manner or at all. Even if regulatory approvals are obtained, it is possible conditions will be imposed that could result in a material delay in, or the abandonment of, the pending Merger or otherwise have an adverse effect on us.
If the Merger is not completed by April 18, 2023 (subject to further automatic extension to July 18, 2023 if the regulatory closing conditions are the only conditions that remain outstanding as of April 18, 2023), either party may have the right to terminate the Merger Agreement following such date (if applicable, as extended).
Economic Risks
Weakness and uncertainty about current and future economic conditions and other adverse changes in general political conditions in any of the major countries in which we do business could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are subject to the risks arising from adverse changes in economic and political conditions, both domestically and globally, including trends toward protectionism and nationalism, other unfavorable changes in economic conditions, such as inflation, rising interest rates, foreign currency volatility, increasing unemployment, slower growth or a recession, and other events beyond our control, such as economic sanctions, natural disasters, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, epidemics, political instability, armed conflicts and wars, including the Russia-Ukraine war. Worsening economic conditions have had and may continue to have an adverse impact on the financial health of many of our consumers and business partners. Uncertainty about the effects of current and future economic and political conditions on us, our consumers, suppliers and business partners can make it more difficult for us to forecast operating results. If economic growth in countries where we do business slows, this could result in reductions in sales of our products and services, more extended sales cycles, and slower adoption of new products and enhancements. Deterioration in economic conditions in any of the countries in which we do business could also cause slower or impaired collections on accounts receivable, which may adversely impact our business.
Prolonged or more severe economic weakness and uncertainty, including from inflation, increasing interest rates, and foreign currency volatility, could also cause our expenses to vary materially from our expectations. Any financial turmoil affecting the banking system and financial markets or any significant financial services institution failures could negatively impact our treasury operations, as the financial condition of such parties may deteriorate rapidly and without notice.
Any of these events would likely harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
If general economic conditions decline, demand for our products and services could decline because purchases of our products and services rely on discretionary spending.
Purchases of our products and services involve discretionary spending on the part of consumers. Consumers are generally more willing to make discretionary purchases, including purchases of products and services like ours, during periods in which favorable economic conditions prevail. As a result, our products are sensitive to general economic conditions and economic cycles, including increases in unemployment, interest rates, inflation, and general economic uncertainty. A reduction or shift in domestic or international consumer spending could result in an increase in our selling and promotional expenses, in an effort to offset that reduction, and could negatively impact our business.
Fluctuations in currency exchange rates could negatively impact our business.
We transact business in various currencies other than the U.S. dollar and have significant international sales and expenses denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, subjecting us to currency exchange rate risks. A substantial portion of our international sales and expenses are denominated in local currencies, which could fluctuate against the U.S. dollar. Since we have significant international sales but incur the majority of our costs in the U.S., the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, particularly the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, may have an asymmetric and disproportional impact on our business. We have, in the past, utilized currency derivative contracts to hedge certain foreign exchange exposures and managed these exposures with natural offsets. However, there can be no assurance that we will continue our hedging programs, or that we will be successful in managing exposure to currency exchange rate risks whether or not we do so.
Business and Industry Risks
If we do not consistently deliver popular, high-quality content in a timely manner, our business may be negatively impacted.
Consumer preferences for games are usually cyclical and difficult to predict. Even the most successful games can lose consumer audiences over time, and remaining popular is increasingly dependent on the games being refreshed with new content or other enhancements. In order to remain competitive and maximize the chances that consumers select our products as opposed to the various entertainment options available to them and with which we compete, we must continuously develop new products or new content for, or other enhancements to, our existing products. These products or enhancements may not be well-received by consumers, even if well-reviewed and of high quality.
Additionally, consumer expectations regarding the quality, performance, and integrity of our products and services are high. Consumers may be critical of our brands, games, services, and/or business practices for a wide variety of reasons, and such negative reactions may not be foreseeable or within our control to manage effectively. For example, we are subject to legal proceedings regarding workplace concerns, as described in Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and could become subject to additional, similar legal proceedings in the future. These legal proceedings have negatively impacted our public reputation and, as a result, at various points in time since the institution of these legal proceedings some consumers have elected not to continue subscribing to one of our games, and it is possible that existing and potential players may decide not to play our games in the future. Some sponsors, partners, and advertisers have previously elected not to be associated with our brand due to this impact on our reputation, and others may so elect in the future. As another example, if we fail to create fun, fair, and safe playing environments, consumers may engage less with our games. All of this may negatively impact, and in the case of those legal proceedings is negatively impacting, our business.
Our products and services are complex software programs. We have quality controls in place to detect defects, “bugs,” or other errors in our products and services before they are released. Nonetheless, these quality controls are subject to human error, overriding, and resource or technical constraints. As such, these quality controls and preventative measures may not be effective, and at times have not been successful, in detecting all defects, bugs, or errors in our products and services before they have been released into the marketplace. Our games with online features are frequently updated, increasing the risk that a game may contain errors. These issues can lead consumers to stop playing the game and/or be less likely to return to the game as often in the future, which may negatively impact our business. If our games or services, such as our proprietary online gaming platform, do not function as consumers expect, whether because they fail to function as advertised or otherwise, our sales may suffer. The risk that this may occur is particularly pronounced with respect to our games with online features because they involve ongoing consumer expectations, which we may not be able to consistently satisfy.
Negative reactions to our products and services may not be foreseeable. We also may not effectively manage or respond to these negative perceptions for reasons within or outside of our control. We expect to continue to expend resources to address concerns with our products and services. Negative perceptions could arise despite our efforts, though, and may result in loss of engagement with our products and services, increased scrutiny from government bodies and consumer groups, and/or litigation, any of which could negatively impact our business.
In addition, delays in product releases or disruptions following the commercial release of one or more new products have negatively impacted, and could in the future negatively impact, our business and reputation and could cause our results of operations to be materially different from expectations. Our ability to meet development schedules depends on numerous factors, some of which are outside of our control, including our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, the time-intensive nature of creative processes, the coordination of large and often dispersed development teams, the complexity of our products and the platforms for which they are developed, and third-party approvals. If we fail to release our products in a timely manner, or if we are unable to continue to extend the life of existing games by adding features and functionality that will encourage continued engagement with the game, our business may be negatively impacted. Any negative impact which occurs during key selling periods, particularly in the fourth quarter of the year, could be especially pronounced.
Additionally, the amount of lead time and cost involved in the development of high-quality products is increasing, and the longer the lead time involved in developing a product and the greater the allocation of financial resources to such product, the more critical it is that we accurately predict consumer demand for such product. If our future products do not achieve expected consumer acceptance or generate sufficient revenues upon introduction, we may not be able to recover the substantial up-front development and marketing costs associated with those products.
We have experienced adverse effects related to concerns raised about our workplace and may continue to experience additional adverse effects.
As described below under “We are subject to legal proceedings regarding workplace concerns that have negatively affected our reputation” and in Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we have been, and in some cases continue to be, subject to legal proceedings regarding workplace concerns. The outcome of matters that have not been resolved remains uncertain, though such matters could be decided unfavorably to the Company and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, income, revenue, profitability, cash flows, liquidity, or stock price.
We are taking actions to address the concerns of employees and other key stakeholders and the adverse consequences to our business. We have experienced, and are likely to continue to experience, adverse publicity regarding our Company and executives related to these matters. These matters have had, and may continue to have, a negative effect on the Company’s business and reputation. If we experience significantly reduced productivity, significant worker protests or strikes in regard to these matters, significant continued loss of sponsors, advertisers or players, or other negative consequences relating to these matters, our business could be materially adversely impacted. We cannot predict the duration and severity of these impacts, and we are continuing to carefully monitor all aspects of our business for such impacts and to take actions to address such concerns.
If we do not attract, retain, and motivate skilled personnel, we will be unable to effectively conduct our business.
Our success depends significantly on our ability to identify, attract, hire, retain, motivate, and utilize the abilities of qualified personnel, which includes both our direct employees and external personnel, such as consultants, agency employees, and external developers. This particularly pertains to personnel with the specialized skills needed to create and deliver high-quality, well-received content, upon which our business is substantially dependent, as well as to ensure business continuity in areas such as risk management, information security, human resources, and compliance. Our industry is generally characterized by a high level of employee mobility, competitive compensation programs, and aggressive recruiting among competitors for employees with technical, marketing, sales, engineering, product development, creative, and/or management skills, all of which is magnified for us because of our leading position within the industry. We have observed labor shortages, increasing competition for talent, and increasing attrition. Additionally, recent litigation involving the Company relating to workplace and employee concerns, as further discussed in this Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and related media attention and/or union campaigns has had, and can be expected to have, an adverse effect on our ability to attract and retain employees and has resulted in work stoppages. If we are unable to attract additional qualified personnel or retain and utilize the services of key personnel, we can expect this would continue to adversely affect our business.
We are unable to predict future impacts from COVID-19.
COVID-19, and governmental and other actions taken in response to it, have extensively impacted global health and the economic environment. Although we have operated effectively since COVID-19 emerged, and recently there has been a return to more normal societal interactions as stay-at-home orders have largely been lifted across the globe, there remains uncertainty about, and we continue to face risks from, future impacts from COVID-19, including as new cases and variants arise and evolve. We cannot predict these future impacts, including as to: the duration and scope of any new pandemic(s); governmental, business and individual actions that may be taken in response; effects on players and their ability to pay for our content and services; disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work; and any stoppages, disruptions or increased costs associated with our development of our games and related content. Future impacts from COVID-19 could have a significant negative impact on our costs of doing business and otherwise negatively impact our results of operations. Prior trends for revenues, net income, and other financial results and operating metrics that generally improved or were unaffected during the COVID-19 pandemic may not be indicative of results for future periods, particularly as pandemic-related factors have become less significant and consumer preferences and spending has adjusted from trends that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, we continue to face risk and uncertainty around potential changes in our return to office strategy, including how those plans may be received by our employees and how those plans may impact attracting and retaining talent. At this time only a portion of our workforce has returned to working on-site.
Our professional esports leagues (i.e., the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League) and the franchise teams that make up the leagues generate certain revenues from live in-person events. In-person events have now resumed but a resurgence of COVID-19 and any continued health and safety concerns with large public gatherings may impact the ability of the teams in our leagues to hold future live in-person events. This, in turn, could result in the loss of future entry fee payments, revenue from advertising, and other future potential league revenues or income, other benefits associated with our esports business, and/or the termination of our leagues. Any one of these things could harm our business. Additionally, a prolonged impact of COVID-19 could heighten many of the risk factors included in this Annual Report filed on Form 10-K.
If consumers prefer products from our competitors, our business may be negatively impacted.
Our competitors include very large corporations with significantly greater financial, marketing, and product development resources than we have-increasingly including technology companies entering, or expanding their investment in, interactive entertainment. Our larger competitors may be able to leverage their greater financial, technical, personnel, and other resources to provide larger budgets for development and marketing and make higher offers to licensors and developers for commercially desirable properties, as well as adopt more aggressive pricing policies to develop more commercially successful video game products than we do. The proliferation of companies developing for mobile platforms creates similar risks.
Competitors may develop content that imitates or competes with our best-selling games, potentially reducing our sales or our ability to charge the same prices we have historically charged for our products. These competing products may take a larger share of consumer spending than anticipated, which could cause product sales to fall below expectations. If we do not continue to develop consistently high-quality and well-received games or new content for or enhancements to those games, if our marketing fails to resonate with our consumers, or if consumers lose interest in any of the games we produce, our revenues and profit margins could decline. In addition, our own best-selling products could compete with our other games, reducing sales for those other games. Further, a failure by us to develop a high-quality product, or our development of a product that is otherwise not well-received, could potentially result in additional expenditures to respond to consumer demands, harm our reputation, and increase the likelihood that our future products will not be well-received. The increased importance of add-on content to our business amplifies these risks, as add-on content for poorly-received games typically generates lower-than-expected sales. The increased demand for consistent new content releases for, and enhancements to, our products also requires a greater allocation of financial resources to those products.
We depend on a relatively small number of franchises for a significant portion of our revenues and profits.
We follow a franchise model, and a significant portion of our revenues has historically been derived from products based on a relatively small number of popular franchises. These products are also responsible for a disproportionately high percentage of our profits. For example, in 2022, revenues associated with our three franchises-Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush-collectively accounted for approximately 79% of our net revenues-and a significantly higher percentage of our operating income. We expect that a relatively limited number of popular franchises will continue to produce a disproportionately high percentage of our revenues and profits. Due to this dependence on a limited number of franchises, the failure to achieve anticipated results by one or more products based on these franchises could negatively impact our business. Additionally, if the popularity of a franchise declines, as has happened in the past with other popular franchises, we may have to write off the unrecovered portion of the underlying intellectual property assets, which could negatively impact our business.
We may be impacted by unionization or attempts to unionize by our workforce.
Our personnel may continue, successfully or unsuccessfully, to form one or more unions as their exclusive representative for collective bargaining. For example, at Raven Software, one of our studios, the Communications Workers of America now represents a unit of quality assurance employees. That union also prevailed in an election vote for a similar group of employees at Blizzard Albany. Finally, that union filed a petition for the employees of the Proletariat studio; however, that union withdrew its petition on January 24, 2023. Work stoppages or strikes could occur within a unionized workforce. Several of our employees have also engaged in a strike for one or more days (although not as part of a union), leading to a business impact. Further disruptions to our workforce could negatively impact our business and lead to delayed product and content releases as well as a potential impact on product quality.
Our industry is subject to rapid technological change, and if we do not adapt to, and appropriately allocate our resources among, emerging technologies and business models, our business may be negatively impacted.
Technology changes rapidly in the interactive entertainment industry. We must continually anticipate and adapt to emergence of new technologies, such as cloud-based game streaming, and business models, such as free-to-play and subscription-based access to a portfolio of interactive content, to stay competitive. Forecasting the financial impact of these changing technologies and business models is inherently uncertain and volatile. Supporting a new technology or business model may require partnering with a new platform, business, or technology partner, which may be on terms that are less favorable to us than those for traditional technologies or business models. If we invest in the development of interactive entertainment products for distribution channels that incorporate a new technology or business model that does not achieve significant commercial success, whether because of competition or otherwise, we may not recover the often substantial up-front costs of developing and marketing those products, or recover the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial resources away from other products or opportunities. Further, our competitors may adapt to an emerging technology or business model more quickly or effectively than we do, creating products that are technologically superior to ours, more appealing to consumers, or both.
If, on the other hand, we elect not to pursue the development of products incorporating a new technology, or otherwise elect not to pursue new business models that achieve significant commercial success, it may have adverse consequences. It may take significant time and expenditures to shift product development resources to that technology or business model, and it may be more difficult to compete against existing products incorporating that technology or using that business model.
The increasing importance of digital sales to our business exposes us to the risks of that business model, including greater competition.
The proportion of our revenues derived from digital distribution channels, as compared to traditional retail sales, continues to increase. The increased importance of digital online channels in our industry increases our potential competition, as the minimum capital needed to produce and publish a digitally delivered game, particularly a game for a mobile platform, may be significantly less than that needed to produce and publish one that is purchased through retail distribution and is played on a game console or PC. Further, our products compete with a vast array of other interactive entertainment software products that are also available on digital distribution platforms and those competing products may be given priority by those platforms.
We may be unable to effectively manage the scope and complexity of our business, including our expansion into new business models that are untested and into adjacent business opportunities with large, established competitors.
We have experienced significant growth in the scope and complexity of our business, including through acquisitions and the development of our esports, advertising, and consumer products businesses. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to manage this expanded business and our aspirations for continued expansion and growth. We have dedicated resources both to new business models that are largely untested, as is the case with esports, and to adjacent business opportunities in which very large competitors have an established presence, as is the case with our advertising and consumer products businesses. We do not know to what extent our future expansions will be successful. Further, even if successful, our aspirations for growth in our core businesses and these adjacent businesses could create significant challenges for our management, operational, and financial resources. If not managed effectively, this growth could result in the over-extension of our operating infrastructure, and our management systems, information technology systems, and internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support this growth. Failure by these new businesses or failure to adequately manage our growth in any of these ways may cause damage to our brand or otherwise negatively impact our core business. Further, the success of these new businesses is largely contingent on the success of our underlying franchises, and as such, delays in product releases or a decline in the popularity of a franchise may impact the success of the new businesses adjacent to that franchise.
Due to our reliance on third-party platforms, platform providers are frequently able to influence our products and costs.
Generally, when we develop interactive entertainment software products for hardware platforms offered by companies such as Sony and Microsoft, the physical products are replicated exclusively by that hardware manufacturer or their approved replicator. The agreements with these manufacturers include certain provisions, such as approval rights over all software products and related promotional materials and the ability to change the fee they charge for the manufacturing of products, which allow the hardware manufacturers substantial influence over the cost and the release schedule of such interactive entertainment software products. During a console transition, like the one that occurred in 2020, as described below, these manufacturers may seek to change the terms governing our relationships with them. In addition, because our products compete with a vast array of other interactive entertainment software products that also are available on these hardware platforms, a manufacturer may give priority to those competing products. In addition, console manufacturers could cause unanticipated delays in the release of our products, as well as increases to projected development, manufacturing, marketing, or distribution costs, any of which could negatively impact our business.
Sony and Microsoft are also platform providers which control the networks over which consumers purchase digital products and services for their platforms and through which we provide online game capabilities for our products. The control that these platform providers have over consumer access to our games, the fee structures and/or retail pricing for products and services for their platforms and online networks, and the terms and conditions under which we do business with them could impact the availability of our products or the volume of purchases of our products made over their networks and our profitability. The networks provided by these platform providers are the exclusive means of selling and distributing our content on these platforms. Further, increased competition for limited premium “digital shelf space” has placed the platform providers in an increasingly better position to negotiate favorable terms of sale. If the platform provider establishes terms that restrict our offerings on its platform, significantly alters the financial terms on which these products or services are offered, or does not approve the inclusion of content on its platform, our business could be negatively impacted.
We also derive significant revenues from distribution on third-party mobile and web platforms, such as the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and Facebook, which are also our direct competitors, and in some cases the exclusive means through which our content reaches gamers on those platforms, and most of the virtual currency we sell is purchased using these platform providers’ payment processing systems. These platforms also serve as significant online distribution platforms for, and/or provide other services critical for the operation of, a number of our games. If these platforms deny access to our games, modify their current discovery mechanisms, communication channels available to developers, operating systems, terms of service, or other policies (including fees), our business could be negatively impacted. Additionally, if these platform providers change how they label a game’s business model, such as free-to-play, change how they apply content ratings to a game, or change how the personal information of consumers is made available to developers, our business could be negatively impacted. These platform providers or their services may be unavailable or may not function as intended or may experience issues with their in-app purchasing functionality. As has sometimes happened in the past, if any of these events occur on a prolonged, or even short-term, basis, or other similar issues arise that impact players’ ability to access our games, access social features, or make purchases, it may result in lost revenues and otherwise negatively impact our business.
Our business is highly dependent on the success and availability of video game consoles manufactured by third parties, as well as our ability to develop commercially successful products for these consoles.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from the sale of products for play on video game consoles manufactured by third parties, such as Sony’s PS4 and PS5, Microsoft’s Xbox One and Series X, and Nintendo’s Switch. Sales of products for consoles accounted for 23% of our consolidated net revenues in 2022. The success of our console business is driven in large part by our ability to accurately predict which consoles will be successful in the marketplace and our ability to develop commercially successful products for these consoles. We also rely on the availability of an adequate supply of these video game consoles (which has been negatively impacted by supply chain issues) and the continued support for these consoles by their manufacturers, including our ability to reach consumers via the online networks operated by these console manufacturers. If increased costs are not offset by higher revenues and other cost efficiencies, our business could be negatively impacted. If the consoles for which we develop new software products or modify existing products do not attain significant consumer acceptance, we may not be able to recover our development costs, which could be significant.
Sony and Microsoft each launched next-generation consoles in 2020. We have released titles that operate on these consoles, and we may continue to develop games for these new console systems. When next-generation consoles are announced or introduced into the market, some consumers have reduced their purchases of game console entertainment software products for prior-generation consoles in anticipation of purchasing a next-generation console and products for that console. During these periods, sales of the game console entertainment software products we publish may decline until new platforms achieve wide consumer adoption. Console transitions may have a comparable impact on sales of add-on content, amplifying the impact on our revenues. This decline may not be offset by increased sales of products for the next-generation consoles. In addition, as console hardware moves through its life cycle, hardware manufacturers typically enact price reductions, and decreasing prices may put downward pressure on software prices. During console transitions, we may simultaneously incur costs both in continuing to develop, market, and operate titles for prior-generation video game platforms, while also developing and supporting next-generation platforms. As a result, our business and operating results may be more volatile and difficult to predict during console transitions than during other times.
The increasing importance of free-to-play games to our business exposes us to the risks of that business model, including the dependence on a relatively small number of consumers for a significant portion of revenues and profits from any given game.
We are increasingly dependent on our ability to develop, enhance, and monetize free-to-play games, such as the games in our Candy Crush franchise, Hearthstone, Call of Duty: Warzone™, Call of Duty: Mobile, Diablo Immortal and Overwatch® 2. As such, we are increasingly exposed to the risks of the free-to-play business model. For example, we may invest in the development of new free-to-play interactive entertainment products that are not successful in building and maintaining a significant payer base, in which case our revenues from those products likely will be lower than anticipated and we may not recover our development costs. Further, our business may be negatively impacted if: (1) we are unable to encourage new and existing consumers to purchase our virtual items; (2) we fail to offer monetization features that appeal to these consumers; (3) our platform providers make it more difficult or expensive for players to purchase our virtual items; and/or (4) our free-to-play releases reduce sales of our other games.
We are a global company and are subject to the risks and uncertainties of conducting business outside the U.S.
We conduct business throughout the world, and we derive a substantial amount of our revenues and profits from international trade, particularly from Europe and Asia. Uncertain economic, legal and political conditions in China, Europe and other regions where we do business, including, for example, changes in relations between Mainland China and Taiwan, the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the related sanctions and other penalties imposed on Russia by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries, subject our international operations and sales to a number of increased risks. We expect that international sales will continue to account for a significant portion of our total revenues and profits and, moreover, that sales in emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere will continue to be an important part of our international sales. As such, we are, and may be increasingly, subject to risks inherent in foreign trade generally, as well as risks inherent in doing business in non-U.S. markets, including increased tariffs and duties, compliance with economic sanctions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, shipping delays, increases in transportation costs, international political, regulatory and economic developments, unexpected changes to laws, regulatory requirements, and enforcement on us and our platform partners and differing local business practices, all of which may impact profit margins or make it more difficult, if not impossible, for us to conduct business in foreign markets.
A deterioration in relations between either us or the U.S. and any country in which we have significant operations or sales, or the implementation of government regulations in the U.S. or such a country, could result in the adoption or expansion of trade restrictions, including economic sanctions or absolute prohibitions, that could have a negative impact on our business. For instance, to operate in Mainland China, all games must have regulatory approval. A decision by the Chinese government to revoke its approval for any of our games or to decline to approve any products we desire to sell in Mainland China in the future could have a negative impact on our business, as could delays in the approval process. Additionally, in the past, legislation has been implemented in Mainland China that has required modifications to our products and our business model to satisfy regulatory requirements, such as Chinese regulations that limit the number of hours per week children under the age of 18 can play video games. The future implementation of similar or new laws or regulations in Mainland China or any other country in which we have operations or sales may restrict or prohibit the sale of our products or may require engineering modifications to our products and our business model that are not cost-effective, if even feasible at all, or could degrade the consumer experience to the point where consumers cease to purchase such products. Changes in Chinese game approval procedures in 2018 have resulted in reduced rates of approval for games and unclear approval timeframes, making it uncertain as to if and when our new products will be approved for release in Mainland China. Further, the continued enforcement of regulations relating to mobile and other games with an online element in Mainland China could have a negative impact on our business in Mainland China.
The laws of some countries either do not protect our products, brands, and intellectual property to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. or are inconsistently enforced. Legal protection of our rights may be ineffective in countries with weaker intellectual property enforcement mechanisms. In addition, certain third parties have registered our intellectual property rights without authorization in foreign countries. Successfully registering such intellectual property rights could limit or restrict our ability to offer products and services based on such rights in those countries. Although we take steps to enforce and police our rights, our practices and methodologies may not be effective against all eventualities.
In addition, cultural differences may affect consumer preferences and limit the international popularity of games that are popular in the U.S. or require us to modify the content of the games or the method by which we charge our customers for the games to be successful. The laws of some countries may change or be interpreted in a way that we have not anticipated. If we do not correctly assess consumer preferences in the countries in which we sell our products or modify content for such preferences or changes in and/or interpretations of such laws, it could negatively impact our business.
We are also subject to risks that our operations outside the U.S. could be conducted by our employees, contractors, third-party partners, representatives, or agents in ways that violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Anti-Bribery Act, or other similar anti-bribery laws, as well as the 2017 U.K. Criminal Finances Act or other similar financial crime laws. While we have policies, procedures, and training for our employees, intended to secure compliance with these laws, our employees, contractors, third-party partners, representatives, or agents may take actions that violate our policies. Moreover, it may be more difficult to oversee the conduct of any such persons who are not our employees, potentially exposing us to greater risk from their actions.
The insolvency or business failure of any of our business partners could negatively impact us.
Our sales, whether digital or retail, are concentrated in a small number of large customers, which makes us more vulnerable to collection risk if one or more of these large customers becomes unable to pay for our products or seeks protection under the bankruptcy laws. Retailers and distributors in the interactive entertainment industry have from time to time experienced significant fluctuations in their businesses and a number of them have failed. Challenging economic conditions may impair the ability of our customers to pay for products they have purchased and, as a result, our reserves for doubtful accounts and write-off of accounts receivable could increase and, even if increased, may turn out to be insufficient. While we have insurance to protect against a customer’s bankruptcy, insolvency, or liquidation, this insurance typically contains a significant deductible and co-payment obligation and does not cover all instances of non-payment. Further, a payment default or the insolvency or business failure of, other types of business partners could result in disruptions to the manufacturing or distribution of our products or the cancellation of contractual arrangements that we consider to be favorable and could negatively impact our business. In addition, having such a large portion of our total net revenues concentrated in a few customers reduces our negotiating leverage with these customers.
The importance of retail sales to our business exposes us to the risks of that business model.
While the proportion of our revenues derived from traditional retail sales, as compared to revenue from digital distribution channels, continues to decline, retail sales remain important to our business. Such sales are made primarily on a purchase order basis without long-term agreements or other forms of commitments, and due to the increased proportion of our revenue from digital distribution channels, our retail customers and distributors have generally been reducing the levels of inventory they are willing to carry. The loss of, or significant reduction in sales to, any of Activision Blizzard’s principal retail customers or distributors, including digital distributors, could have adverse consequences.
We engage in strategic transactions from time to time and may encounter difficulties in integrating acquired businesses or otherwise realizing the anticipated benefits of these transactions.
As part of our business strategy, from time to time, we acquire, make investments in, or enter into strategic alliances and joint ventures with, complementary businesses. These transactions may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including: (1) in the case of an acquisition, (i) the potential for the acquired business to underperform relative to our expectations and the acquisition price, (ii) the potential for the acquired business to cause our financial results to differ from expectations in any given period, or over the longer-term, (iii) unexpected tax consequences from the acquisition, or the tax treatment of the acquired business’s operations going forward, giving rise to incremental tax liabilities that are difficult to predict, (iv) difficulty in integrating the acquired business, its operations, and its employees in an efficient and effective manner, (v) any unknown liabilities or internal control deficiencies assumed as part of the acquisition, (vi) the potential loss of key employees of the acquired businesses, and (vii) the potential discovery of ethics or compliance risks not uncovered in the due diligence process that could create reputational risk and/or require additional investments to further understand and remediate the newly-discovered risks; and (2) in the case of an investment, alliance, or joint venture, (i) our ability to cooperate with our partner, (ii) our partner having economic, business, or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with ours or having negative employee sentiment or union-related issues or problems, and (iii) the potential that our partner may be unable to meet its economic or other obligations, which may require us to fulfill those obligations alone. Further, any such transaction may involve the risk that our senior management’s attention will be excessively diverted from our other operations, the risk that our industry does not evolve as anticipated, and that any intellectual property or personnel skills acquired do not prove to be those needed for our future success, and the risk that our strategic objectives, cost savings or other anticipated benefits are otherwise not achieved.
We are exposed to seasonality in the sale of our products.
The interactive entertainment industry is somewhat seasonal, with the highest levels of consumer demand occurring during the calendar year-end holiday buying season. As a result, our sales, particularly for our Activision segment, receivables, and credit risk, are higher during the fourth quarter of the year, as consumers and retailers increase their purchases in anticipation of the holiday season. Delays in development, approvals or manufacturing could affect the release of products, causing us to miss key selling periods such as the year-end holiday buying season, which could negatively impact our business.
Our recurring business is subject to fluctuation, and we could see a decline in that portion of our business.
Our business model includes revenue we deem recurring in nature, such as revenue from subscriptions for World of Warcraft. There is no guarantee that demand for this service will remain at current levels. Consumer demand has declined and fluctuated in the past, and could do so in the future. If consumers lose interest in our services; if we fail to adapt our services to changing markets, distribution channels, and business models; if we discontinue our services; if we, or third parties we rely on, experience network disruptions or outages; if our competitors offer more attractive services; if our advertising and marketing of our service fails; or if there is a general downturn in the market, revenues generated by this service may decline, which could negatively impact our business.
Our business may be harmed if our distributors, retailers, development, and licensing partners, or other third parties with whom we are affiliated are unable to honor their commitments or act in ways that put our brand at risk.
In many cases, our business partners and other third-party affiliates, which may include, among others, individuals or entities affiliated with the esports leagues we operate, are given access to sensitive and proprietary information or control over our intellectual property to provide services and support to our team. These third parties may misappropriate or misuse our information or intellectual property and engage in unauthorized use of it. Further, the failure of these third parties to provide adequate services and technologies or to adequately maintain or update their services and technologies could result in a disruption to our business operations or an adverse effect on our reputation and may negatively impact our business. At the same time, if the media, consumers, or employees raise any concerns about our actions vis-à-vis third parties including consumers who play our games, this could also damage our reputation or our business. Further, should we terminate our relationship with a third-party affiliate for any reason, we may experience interruptions in our business and incur costs as we transition to a new partner.
At the same time, if the media, consumers, or employees raise any concerns about our actions vis-à-vis third parties including consumers who play our games, this could also damage our reputation or our business. Further, should we terminate our relationship with a third-party affiliate for any reason, we may experience interruptions in our business and incur costs as we transition to a new partner. For example, our licensing agreements with NetEase, Inc. covering the publication of several Blizzard titles in Mainland China recently expired. Due to regulations in Mainland China requiring us to go through a partner in order to provide our content to residents in Mainland China, there has been an interruption in our business there and this interruption can be expected to continue until there is a transition to a new partner. Additionally, with our games suspended, competitors have started to come out with similar games or similar content in existing games, which could have a negative impact on our business even after the transition to a new partner.
In developing and launching our games, we rely on tools and technologies owned by third parties.
In developing and launching our games, we often use tools and technologies owned by third parties. If entities that own tools and technologies we use are acquired by our competitors we may lose access to such resources. Further, third party tools and technologies we use have at times been and, in the future might be, “sunsetted” or modified in such a way that would require us to engineer a workaround. Such events have in the past, and may in the future, cause delays in our production schedule and may cause us to incur time and cost as we acquire or develop alternative assets.
We use open source software in connection with certain of our games and services, which may pose particular risks to our proprietary software, products, and services in a manner that could have a negative impact on our business.
We use open-source software in connection with some of the games and services we offer. Some open source software licenses require users who distribute open source software as part of their software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software or make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. The terms of various open source licenses have not been interpreted by courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our use of the open source software. Were it determined that our use was not in compliance with a particular license, we may be required to release our proprietary source code, pay damages for breach of contract, re-engineer our games or products, discontinue distribution in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis, or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our game development efforts, any of which could negatively impact our business. Additionally, the shared nature of open source software may increase the ability of cyber-attackers to discover and exploit vulnerabilities, which may increase the likelihood of a data breach, ransomware, network interruption, or other type of cyber-attack against us or against third parties who may use open source software, such as our platform partners or key vendors, any of which could negatively impact our business.
Our games may include undisclosed content or features. If our retailers refuse to sell such titles, or consumers refuse to purchase such titles, due to what they perceive to be objectionable undisclosed content, it could have a negative impact on our business.
Throughout the history of the interactive entertainment industry, many interactive software products have included hidden content and/or hidden gameplay features, some of which have been accessible through the use of in-game codes or other technological means, that are intended to enhance the gameplay experience. In some cases, such undisclosed content or features have been considered to be objectionable. While publishers are required to disclose pertinent hidden content during the Entertainment Software Rating Board (the “ESRB”) ratings process, in a few cases, publishers have failed to disclose pertinent content, and the ESRB has required the recall of the game, changed the rating or associated content descriptors originally assigned to the product, required the publisher to change the game or game packaging, and/or imposed fines on the publisher. Retailers have on occasion reacted to the discovery of such undisclosed content by removing these games from their stores, refusing to sell them, and demanding that their publishers accept them as product returns. Likewise, some consumers have reacted to the revelation of undisclosed content by refusing to purchase such games, demanding refunds for games they have already purchased, refraining from buying other games published by the Company whose game contained the objectionable material, and, on at least one occasion, filing a lawsuit against the publisher of the product containing such content.
We have implemented preventive measures designed to reduce the possibility of objectionable undisclosed content from appearing in the interactive software products we publish. Nonetheless, these preventive measures are subject to human error, circumvention, overriding, and reasonable resource constraints. If an interactive software product we publish is found to contain undisclosed content, we could be subject to any of these consequences.
Our results of operations or reputation may be harmed as a result of objectionable consumer- or other third-party-created content.
Certain of our games and esports broadcasts support collaborative online features that allow consumers to communicate with one another and post narrative comments, in real time, that are visible to other consumers. Additionally, certain of our games allow consumers to create and share “user-generated content” that is visible to other consumers. From time to time, objectionable and offensive consumer content may be distributed within our games and on our broadcasts through these features or to gaming websites or other sites or forums with online chat features or that otherwise allow consumers to post comments. Although we expend resources, and expect to continue to expend resources, to promote positive play, our efforts may not be successful due to scale, limitations of existing technologies, or other factors. We may be subject to lawsuits, governmental regulation or restrictions, and consumer backlash (including decreased sales and harmed reputation), as a result of consumers posting offensive content.
Additionally, we have begun to generate revenue through offering advertising within certain of our franchises and in connection with our esports broadcasts. The content of in-game and esports broadcast advertisements may be created and delivered by third-party advertisers without our pre-approval, and, as such, objectionable content may be published in our games or during our esports broadcasts by these advertisers. This objectionable third-party-created content may expose us to regulatory action or claims related to content, or otherwise negatively impact our business. We may also be subject to consumer backlash from comments made in response to postings we make on social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
We may experience outages, disruptions, or degradations in our services, products, and/or technological infrastructure.
The reliable performance of our products and services depends on the continuing operation and availability of our information technology systems and those of our external service providers, including third-party “cloud” computing services. Our games and services are complex software products, and maintaining the sophisticated internal and external technological infrastructure required to reliably deliver these games and services is expensive and complex. The reliable delivery and stability of our products and services has been, and could in the future be, adversely impacted by outages, disruptions, failures, or degradations in our network and related infrastructure, as well as in the online platforms or services of key business partners that offer, support or host our products and services. The reliability and stability of our products and services has been affected by events outside of our control as well as by events within our control, such as the migration of data among data centers and to third-party hosted environments, the performance of upgrades and maintenance on our systems, and online demand for our products and services that exceeds the capabilities of our technological infrastructure.
If we or our external business partners were to experience an event that caused a significant system outage, disruption, or degradation, or if a transition among data centers or service providers or an upgrade or maintenance session encountered unexpected interruptions, unforeseen complexity, or unplanned disruptions, our products and services may not be available to consumers or may not be delivered reliably and stably. As a result, our reputation and brand may be harmed, consumer engagement with our products and services may be reduced, and our revenue and profitability could be negatively impacted. We do not have redundancy for all our systems and many of our critical applications reside in only one of our data centers, which may make such an event more damaging to us.
As our digital business grows, we will require an increasing amount of internal and external technical infrastructure, including network capacity and computing power to continue to satisfy the needs of our players. We are investing, and expect to continue to invest, in our own technology, hardware, and software and the technology, hardware, and software of external service providers to support our business. It is possible that we may fail to scale effectively and grow this technical infrastructure to accommodate increased demands, which may adversely affect the reliable and stable performance of our games and services, therefore negatively impact our business.
Cybersecurity-related attacks, significant data breaches, fraudulent activity, or disruptions of the information technology systems or networks on which we rely could negatively impact our business.
In the course of our day-to-day business, we and third parties operating on our behalf create, store, and/or use commercially sensitive information, such as the source code and game assets for our interactive entertainment software products and sensitive and confidential information with respect to our customers, consumers, and employees. A malicious cybersecurity-related attack, intrusion, or disruption by hackers (including through spyware, ransomware, viruses, phishing, denial of service, and similar attacks) or other breach of the systems (including harm or improper access due to error by employees or third parties who have authorized access) on which such source code and assets, account information (including personal information), and other sensitive data is stored has in the past, and may in the future, lead to piracy of our software, fraudulent activity, disclosure, or misappropriation of, or access to, our customers’, consumers’, or employees’ personal information, or our own business data. Such incidents could also lead to product code-base and game distribution platform exploitation, should undetected viruses, spyware, or other malware be inserted into our products, services, or networks, or systems used by our consumers.
While we have implemented cybersecurity programs and the tools, technologies, processes, and procedures that are intended to secure our data and systems, and prevent and detect unauthorized access to, or loss of, our data, or the data of our customers, consumers, or employees, these measures may not be effective. Because cyberattacks may remain undetected for prolonged periods of time and the techniques used by criminal hackers and other third parties to breach systems change frequently, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. A data intrusion into a server for a game with online features or for our proprietary online gaming platform can also disrupt the operation of such game or platform. If we are subject to material cybersecurity breaches, or a security-related incident that materially disrupts the availability of our products and services, we may have a loss in sales or subscriptions or be forced to pay damages or incur other costs, including from the implementation of additional cyber and physical security measures, or suffer reputational damage. In addition, cybersecurity incidents that impact game integrity, such as theft of our anti-cheat code, could lead to loss of sales and damage to our brands and reputation. Additionally, although we maintain insurance policies, they may be insufficient to reimburse us for all losses or all types of claims that may be caused by cyberbreaches or system or network disruptions, and it is uncertain whether we will be able to maintain our current level of coverage in the future. Moreover, if there were a public perception that our data protection measures are inadequate, whether or not the case, it could result in reputational damage and potential harm to our business relationships or the public perception of our business model. In addition, such cybersecurity breaches may subject us to legal claims or proceedings, like individual claims and regulatory investigations and actions, including fines, especially if there is loss, disclosure, or misappropriation of, or access to, our customers’ personal information or other sensitive information, or there is otherwise an intrusion into our customers’ privacy.
Additionally, many of our games include virtual economies, comprising virtual currencies and assets, which are subject to fraud, exploitation, and abuse. In-game exploits and the use of automated or other fraudulent practices to generate virtual currency or assets illegitimately can detract from players’ enjoyment of our games and can cause loss of revenue and harm to our reputation. Further, the measures we take to remedy abuse and protect against future fraudulent actions can be costly and time-consuming and may negatively impact our operations and financial outlook.
Significant disruption during our live events may adversely affect our business.
We, as well as the teams in the esports leagues we operate, host live events each year, many of which are attended by a large number of people. There are many risks that are inherent in large gatherings of people, including actual or threatened terrorist attacks or other acts of violence, fire, explosion, protests, and riots, and other safety or security issues, any one of which could result in injury or death to attendees and/or damage to the facilities at which such an event is hosted. While we maintain insurance policies, they may be insufficient to reimburse us for all losses or all types of claims that may be caused by such an event. Moreover, if there were a public perception that the safety or security measures are inadequate at the events we host or events hosted by teams in the esports leagues we operate, whether or not the case, it could result in reputational damage and a decline in future attendance at events hosted by us or those teams. Any one of these things could harm our business.
Catastrophic events may disrupt our business.
Our corporate headquarters and our primary corporate data center are located in the Los Angeles, California area, which is near a major earthquake fault. A major earthquake or other catastrophic event that results in the destruction or disruption of any of our critical business or information technology systems, impacts the health and safety of our employees or the employees of third-party affiliates and the regulatory agencies we rely on, or otherwise prevents us from conducting our normal business operations, could require significant expenditures to resume operations and negatively impact our business. While we maintain insurance coverage for some of these events, the potential liabilities associated with such events could exceed the insurance coverage we maintain. Further, our system redundancy may be ineffective or inadequate to protect us against such events. Any such event could also limit the ability of retailers, distributors, or our other customers to sell or distribute our products.
Climate change may have an impact on our business.
Risks related to climate change are increasing in both impact and type. We do not expect significant near-term impacts to our operations as a result of climate change, but long-term impacts remain unknown. There may be business or operational risk due to the significant impacts that climate change could pose to our mobile infrastructure, the cost of energy, employees’ lives, consumers’ lives, our supply chain, our data centers or other operational disruptions from climate change-related weather events. In addition, rapidly changing customer and regulatory requirements, along with stakeholder expectations, to reduce carbon emissions and otherwise to reduce our environmental footprint could increase our costs of operations to comply or present a risk of loss of business, if we are not able to meet those requirements.
Provisions in our corporate documents and Delaware state law could delay or prevent a change of control.
Our Fifth Amended and Restated Bylaws contain a provision regulating the ability of shareholders to bring matters for action before annual and special meetings. The regulations on shareholder action could make it more difficult for any person seeking to acquire control of the Company to obtain shareholder approval of actions that would support this effort. In addition, our Third Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of so-called “blank check” preferred stock. This ability of our Board of Directors to issue and fix the rights and preferences of preferred stock could effectively dilute the interests of any person seeking control or otherwise make it more difficult to obtain control.
Regulatory and Legal Risks
We are subject to legal proceedings regarding workplace concerns that have negatively affected our reputation.
As described in Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in July 2021, the California Civil Rights Department (formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) (the “CRD”) filed a complaint against Activision Blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment, and Activision Publishing alleging violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Equal Pay Act. The Company settled claims against the Company regarding certain employment practices with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission through a consent decree ultimately approved by a federal court; the CRD unsuccessfully sought to intervene to object to the terms of the proposed consent decree. The CRD has appealed the federal court’s decision to deny its effort to intervene. There are currently pending unfair labor practice charges and matters against the Company. The outcomes of the matters that have not been resolved remain uncertain, and we could become subject to additional, similar legal proceedings in the future. If such matters are decided unfavorably to the Company, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, income, revenue, profitability, cash flows, liquidity, or stock price.
These legal proceedings have negatively impacted our public reputation and, as a result, some consumers have elected not to continue subscribing to one or more of our games, and existing and potential players may decide not to play our games in the future. Some existing sponsors, partners, and advertisers have also elected not to be associated with our brand due to this impact on our reputation, and others may so elect in the future. The outcome of these matters remains uncertain, though such matters could be decided unfavorably to the Company and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, income, revenue, profitability, cash flows, liquidity, or stock price.
We are involved in legal proceedings that can have a negative impact on our business.
From time to time, we are involved in claims, suits, investigations, audits, and proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business, including with respect to intellectual property, competition and antitrust, regulatory, tax, privacy, labor and employment, compliance, unclaimed property, cybersecurity, liability and personal injury, product damage, collection, and/or commercial matters. In addition, negative consumer sentiment about our business practices may result in inquiries or investigations from regulatory agencies and consumer groups, as well as litigation.
Claims, suits, investigations, audits, and proceedings are inherently difficult to predict, including those referenced above, and their results are subject to significant uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control. Regardless of the outcome, such legal proceedings can have a negative impact on us due to reputational harm, legal costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors. It is also possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in substantial settlements, judgments, fines or penalties, injunctions, criminal sanctions, consent decrees, or orders preventing us from offering certain features, functionalities, products, or services, requiring us to change our development process or other business practices.
There is also inherent uncertainty in determining reserves for these matters. Significant judgment is required in the analysis of these matters, including assessing the probability of potential outcomes and determining whether a potential exposure can be reasonably estimated. In making these determinations, we, in consultation with outside counsel, examine the relevant facts and circumstances on a quarterly basis assuming, as applicable, a combination of settlement and litigated outcomes and strategies. Further, it may take time to develop factors on which reasonable judgments and estimates can be based.
We regard our software as proprietary and rely on a variety of methods, including a combination of copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret laws, and employee and third-party non-disclosure agreements, to protect our proprietary rights. We own or license various copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. The process of registering and protecting these rights in various jurisdictions is expensive and time-consuming. Further, we are aware that some unauthorized copying and piracy occurs, and if a significantly greater amount of unauthorized copying or piracy of our software products were to occur, it could negatively impact our business. We also cannot be certain that existing intellectual property laws will provide adequate protection for our products in connection with emerging technologies or that we will be able to effectively protect our intellectual property through litigation and other means.
Our business, products, and distribution are subject to increasing regulation in key territories. If we do not successfully respond to these regulations, our business could be negatively impacted.
The video game industry continues to evolve, and new and innovative business opportunities are often subject to new attempts at regulation. As such, legislation is continually being introduced, and litigation and regulatory enforcement actions are taking place, that may affect the way in which we, and other industry participants, may offer content and features, and distribute and advertise our products. These laws, regulations, and investigations are related to protection of minors, gambling, screen time, business models, consumer privacy, cybersecurity, data protection, accessibility, advertising, taxation, payments, intellectual property, distribution, and antitrust, among others.
For example, many foreign countries have laws that permit governmental entities to restrict or prohibit marketing or distribution of interactive entertainment software products because of the content therein (and similar legislation has been introduced at one time or another at the federal and state levels in the U.S., including legislation that attempts to impose additional taxes based on content). In addition, certain jurisdictions have laws that restrict or prohibit marketing or distribution of interactive entertainment software products with random digital item mechanics, which some of our online games and services include, or subject such products to additional regulation and oversight, such as reporting to regulators, mandatory disclosure to consumers of item drop rates, and higher age ratings for products that contain such mechanics.
We are also subject to laws in a number of jurisdictions concerning the operation and offering of tournaments and games, many of which are still evolving and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. Certain jurisdictions also have laws that restrict or prohibit certain types of esports tournament structures. These laws may have an impact on our ability to offer certain esports competitions and/or to offer consumers of our online and casual games various types of contests and promotional opportunities.
Further, the growth and development of electronic commerce, virtual items, and currency may prompt calls for more stringent consumer protection laws that may impose additional burdens or limitations on operations of companies such as ours conducting business through the Internet and mobile devices, including related to screen time. Also, existing laws or new laws regarding the marketing of in-app purchases, regulation of currency, banking institutions, unclaimed property, and money laundering may be interpreted to cover virtual currency or goods. Additionally, laws may limit or prevent the auto-renewal of contracts and subscriptions. Further, the European Commission has imposed a large antitrust fine on a number of other game publishers who had been geoblocking certain EU countries. In addition, in 2019 the World Health Organization included “gaming disorder” in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), leading some countries to consider legislation and policies aimed at addressing this issue. Moreover, the public dialogue concerning interactive entertainment may have an adverse impact on our reputation and consumers’ willingness to purchase our products.
The adoption and enforcement of legislation that restricts the marketing, content, business model, or sales of our products in countries in which we do business may harm the sales of our products, as the products we are able to offer to our customers and the size of the potential audience for our products may be limited. We may be required to modify certain product development processes or products or alter our marketing strategies to comply with regulations, which could be costly or delay the release of our products. In addition, the laws and regulations affecting our products vary by territory and may be inconsistent with one another, imposing conflicting or uncertain restrictions. Failure to comply with any applicable legislation may also result in government-imposed fines or other penalties, as well as harm to our reputation.
Change in government regulations relating to the Internet could negatively impact our business.
We rely on our consumers’ access to significant levels of Internet bandwidth for the sale and digital delivery of our content and the functionality of our games with online features. Changes in laws or regulations that adversely affect the growth, popularity, or use of the Internet, including laws impacting “net neutrality” or the availability of bandwidth could impair our consumers’ online video game experiences, decrease the demand for our products and services or increase our cost of doing business. Although certain jurisdictions have implemented laws and regulations intended to prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against particular types of legal traffic on their networks, other jurisdictions may lack such laws and regulations or repeal existing laws or regulations. Given uncertainty around these rules relating to the Internet, including changing interpretations, amendments, or repeal of those rules, coupled with the potentially significant political and economic power of local Internet service providers and the relatively significant level of Internet bandwidth access our products and services require, we could experience discriminatory or anti-competitive practices that could impede our growth, cause us to incur additional expenses, or otherwise negatively impact our business.
The laws and regulations concerning data privacy are continually evolving. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could harm our business.
Consumers play most of our games online using our own distribution platforms, including Blizzard Battle.net, third-party platforms and networks, through online social platforms, and on mobile devices. We collect and store information about our consumers, including consumers who play these games. In addition, we collect and store information about our employees. We are subject to laws from a variety of jurisdictions regarding privacy and the protection of this information, including country and regional laws and regulations, such as the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, and other U.S. state laws, the China Personal Information Protection Law; as well as sectoral laws and regulations such as the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code. Failure to comply with any of these laws or regulations may increase our costs, subject us to expensive and distracting government investigations, result in substantial fines, and other punitive measures, including restricting or prohibiting the sale of our products, or result in lawsuits and claims against us, to the extent these laws include a private right of action.
Data privacy protection laws are rapidly changing and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, the E.U. and China have taken a broader view than other jurisdictions as to what is considered personal information and has imposed greater obligations under data privacy and protection regulations, including those imposed under the GDPR. The U.S. government, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, various U.S. state governments, and other various national and local governments are continuing to review the need for greater regulation over the collection, sharing, use, retention, or sale of personal information and information about consumer behavior on the Internet and on mobile devices. Complying with emerging and changing laws and regulations could require us to incur substantial costs or impact our approach to operating and marketing our games. Due to the rapidly changing nature of these data privacy protection laws, there is not always clear guidance from the respective governments and regulators regarding the interpretation of the law, which may create the risk of an inadvertent violation. Various government and consumer agencies worldwide have also called for new regulation and changes in industry practices. In addition, in some cases, we are dependent upon our platform providers and external data processors to assist us in ensuring compliance with these various types of regulations, and a violation by one of these third parties may also subject us to government investigations and result in substantial fines.
Player interaction with our games is subject to our privacy policies, end user license agreements (“EULAs”), and terms of service. If we fail to comply with our posted privacy policies, EULAs, or terms of service, or if we fail to comply with existing privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations, it could result in proceedings or litigation against us by governmental authorities or others, which could result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, impact our financial condition, and harm our business. If regulators, the media, consumers, or employees raise any concerns about our privacy and data protection or consumer protection practices, even if unfounded, this could also result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, negatively impact our financial condition, or damage our business.
Our games are subject to scrutiny regarding the appropriateness of their content. If we fail to receive our target ratings for certain titles, or if our retailers refuse to sell such titles due to what they perceive to be objectionable content, it could have a negative impact on our business.
Our console and PC games are subject to ratings by the ESRB, a self-regulatory body based in the U.S. that provides U.S. and Canadian consumers of interactive entertainment software with ratings information, including information on the content in such software, such as violence, nudity, or sexual content, along with an assessment of the suitability of the content for certain age groups. Certain other countries have also established content rating systems as prerequisites for product sales in those countries. In addition, certain third parties use other ratings systems. For example, Apple uses a proprietary “App Rating System” and certain online stores, including Google Play, use the International Age Rating Coalition (“IARC”) rating system, whereby ratings are assigned in participating regions through a single application. If we are unable to obtain the ratings we have targeted for our products, it could have a negative impact on our business. In some instances, we may be required to modify our products to meet the requirements of the rating systems, which could delay or disrupt the release of any given product or may prevent its sale altogether in certain territories. Further, if one of our games is “re-rated” for any reason, a ratings organization could require corrective actions, which could include a recall, retailers could refuse to sell it and demand that we accept the return of any unsold or returned copies or consumers could demand a refund for copies previously purchased.
Additionally, retailers may decline to sell, and/or consumers may decline to buy, interactive entertainment software containing what they judge to be graphic violence or sexually explicit material or other content that they deem inappropriate for their businesses, whether because a product received a certain rating by the ESRB or other content rating system, in response to mass shootings or the conflict in Ukraine, or otherwise. If retailers decline to sell our products or consumers decline to buy them based upon their opinion that they contain objectionable themes, graphic violence or sexually explicit material, or other generally objectionable content, we might be required to modify particular titles or forfeit the revenue opportunity of selling such titles.
Tax and Financial Reporting Risks
Changes in tax rates and/or tax laws or exposure to additional tax liabilities could negatively impact our business.
Our income tax liability and effective tax rate could be adversely affected by a variety of factors, including changes in our business, the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in tax laws or tax rulings, changes in interpretations of existing laws, or developments in tax examinations or investigations. Any of these factors could have a negative impact on our business or require us to change the manner in which we operate our business. The tax regimes we are subject to, or operate under, are unsettled and may be subject to significant change. Fundamental changes to corporate tax laws that have been considered or enacted by numerous countries in recent years, including the implementation of legislation intended to conform to new and evolving OECD guidelines, revenue-based taxes on digital services and other changes to the taxation of U.S. multinationals, may have an adverse impact on our income tax expense and could negatively impact our business. Furthermore, tax authorities may choose to examine or investigate our tax reporting or tax liability, including how or where our profits are currently recognized. These proceedings may lead to adjustments or proposed adjustments to our income taxes or provisions for uncertain tax positions.
Our reported financial results could be significantly impacted by changes in financial accounting standards or by the application of existing or future accounting standards to our business as it evolves.
Our reported financial results are impacted by the accounting policies promulgated by the SEC and national accounting standards bodies and the methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies. Policies affecting revenue recognition have affected, and could further significantly affect, the way we report revenues related to our products and services. We recognize a majority of the revenues from video games that include an online service on a deferred basis over an estimated service period for such games. In addition, we defer the cost of revenues of those products. Further, our estimate of the service period has changed in the current year and may change again in future years, and we could be required to recognize revenues, and defer related costs, over a shorter or longer period of time. As we enhance, expand, and diversify our business and product offerings, the application of existing or future financial accounting standards, particularly those relating to the way we account for revenues, capitalized software costs, and income taxes, could have a significant impact on our reported net revenues, net income, and earnings per common share under generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. in any given period.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. PROPERTIES
Our principal corporate and administrative offices and our Activision segment’s headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. Our Activision segment also leases office space for development studio personnel throughout the U.S., primarily in California, New York, and Wisconsin. We also lease office space in Irvine, California for our Blizzard segment’s headquarters, which include administrative and development studio space. We lease office space in London, United Kingdom for our King segment’s headquarters, as well as office space for additional administrative and development studio space in Stockholm, Sweden and Barcelona, Spain.
We anticipate no difficulty in extending the leases of our facilities or obtaining comparable facilities in suitable locations, as needed, and we consider our facilities to be adequate for our current needs.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Refer to Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for disclosures regarding our legal proceedings.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS, AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Market Information and Holders
Our common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “ATVI”. At February 16, 2023, there were 1,441 holders of record of our common stock.
Stock Performance Graph
This performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities under such Section 18, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Activision Blizzard, Inc. under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
COMPARISON OF 5-YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN
among Activision Blizzard, Inc., the Nasdaq Composite Index, the S&P 500 Index,
and the RDG Technology Composite Index
The following graph and table compare the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index, the S&P 500 Index, and the RDG Technology Composite Index. The graph and table assume that $100 was invested on December 31, 2017, and that dividends were reinvested daily. The stock price performance on the following graph and table is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
Fiscal year ending December 31: 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/20 12/21 12/22
Activision Blizzard, Inc. $ 100.00 $ 73.93 $ 95.09 $ 149.55 $ 107.68 $ 124.63
Nasdaq Composite 100.00 97.16 132.81 192.47 235.15 158.65
S&P 500 100.00 95.62 125.72 148.85 191.58 156.89
RDG Technology Composite 100.00 93.54 133.70 208.19 249.39 169.48
Cash Dividends
We have paid a dividend annually since 2010. Below is a summary of cash dividends paid over the past three fiscal years:
Year Per Share Amount Record Date Dividend Payment Date
2022 $0.47 4/15/2022 5/6/2022
2021 $0.47 4/15/2021 5/6/2021
2020 $0.41 4/15/2020 5/6/2020
Under the Merger Agreement, we may not declare, set aside, authorize, establish a record date for, or pay any further dividend or other distribution (whether in cash, shares, or property or any combination thereof) in respect of any shares of capital stock or other equity or voting interest, or make any other actual, constructive, or deemed distribution in respect of the shares of capital stock or other equity or voting interest, without obtaining Microsoft's approval (which may not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned, or delayed).
As such, future dividends will depend upon our earnings, financial condition, cash requirements, anticipated future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors, including, as relevant, Microsoft’s approval. There can be no assurances that dividends will be declared in the future.
Issuer Purchase of Equity Securities
On January 27, 2021, our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program under which we were authorized to repurchase up to $4 billion of our common stock during the two-year period from February 14, 2021 until the earlier of February 13, 2023 and a determination by the Board of Directors to discontinue the repurchase program. We did not repurchase any shares under this program through its expiry and we are restricted from making any such repurchases during the period between the execution of the Merger Agreement and the Effective Time without Microsoft’s approval (which may not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned, or delayed).

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Business Overview
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a leading global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services. We develop and distribute content and services on video game consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. We also operate esports leagues and offer digital advertising within some of our content. The terms “Activision Blizzard,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” are used to refer collectively to Activision Blizzard, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Merger Agreement
On January 18, 2022, we entered into the Merger Agreement with Microsoft and Merger Sub, in which we agreed to be acquired for $95.00 in cash per Share. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, our acquisition will be accomplished through the merger of Merger Sub with and into the Company, with the Company surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft.
Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, and subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, at the Effective Time, each Share (other than Shares (1) held by the Company as treasury stock (excluding certain Shares held by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, which shares will remain outstanding and unaffected by the Merger), (2) owned by Microsoft or Merger Sub, (3) owned by any direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft or Merger Sub or (4) held by stockholders who have neither voted in favor of adoption of the Merger Agreement nor consented thereto in writing and who have properly and validly exercised their statutory rights of appraisal in respect of such Shares in accordance with Section 262 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, in each case, immediately prior to the Effective Time) issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time will be cancelled and automatically converted into the right to receive $95.00 in cash, without interest.
If the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain specified circumstances, we or Microsoft will be required to pay a termination fee. We will be required to pay Microsoft a termination fee of approximately $2.27 billion under specified circumstances, including termination of the Merger Agreement due to our material breach of representations, warranties, covenants or agreements in the Merger Agreement. Microsoft will be required to pay us a reverse termination fee under specified circumstances, including termination of the Merger Agreement due to a permanent injunction arising from Antitrust Laws (as defined in the Merger Agreement) when we are not then in material breach of any provision of the Merger Agreement and if certain other conditions are met, in an amount equal to (1) $2.5 billion if the termination notice is provided prior to April 18, 2023, or (2) $3.0 billion if the termination notice is provided at any time after April 18, 2023.
On April 28, 2022, the Company’s stockholders adopted the Merger Agreement at a special meeting of stockholders. The consummation of the Merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including, among others, (1) the absence of any court order or law prohibiting (or seeking to prohibit) the consummation of the Merger, (2) the termination or expiration of any applicable waiting period or periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (as amended) and specified approvals under certain other antitrust and foreign investment laws, subject to certain limitations, (3) compliance by us and Microsoft in all material respects with our respective obligations under the Merger Agreement, and (4) subject to specified exceptions and qualifications for materiality, the accuracy of representations and warranties made by us and Microsoft, respectively, as of the signing date and the closing date. The two parties are continuing to engage with regulators reviewing the proposed transaction and are working toward closing in Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals and satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions. For more information regarding the FTC complaint regarding the pending Merger, see Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Employment Matters
We are subject to legal proceedings regarding our workplace and are experiencing adverse effects related to these proceedings and to concerns raised about our workplace. For information about these matters, see Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our Segments
Based upon our organizational structure, we conduct our business through three reportable segments, each of which is a leading global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services based primarily on our internally-developed intellectual properties.
(i) Activision Publishing, Inc.
Activision delivers content through both premium and free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from full-game and in-game sales, as well as by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies that distribute Activision products. Activision’s key product offerings include titles and content for Call of Duty, a first-person action franchise. Activision also includes the activities of the Call of Duty League, a global professional esports league.
(ii) Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Blizzard delivers content through both premium and free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from full-game and in-game sales, subscriptions, and by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies that distribute Blizzard products. Blizzard also maintains a proprietary online gaming platform, Battle.net, which facilitates digital distribution of Blizzard content and selected Activision content, online social connectivity, and the creation of user-generated content. Blizzard’s key product offerings include titles and content for: the Warcraft franchise, which includes World of Warcraft, a subscription-based massive multi-player online role-playing game, and Hearthstone, an online collectible card game based in the Warcraft universe; Diablo in the action role-playing genre; and Overwatch in the team-based first-person action genre. Blizzard also includes the activities of the Overwatch League, a global professional esports league.
(iii) King Digital Entertainment
King delivers content through free-to-play offerings and primarily generates revenue from in-game sales and in-game advertising on mobile platforms. King’s key product offerings include titles and content for Candy Crush, a “match three” franchise.
Other
We also engage in other businesses that do not represent reportable segments, including our Distribution business, which consists of operations in Europe that provide warehousing, logistics, and sales distribution services to third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software, our own publishing operations, and manufacturers of interactive entertainment hardware.
Business Results and Highlights
Financial Results
2022 financial highlights included:
•consolidated net revenues decreased 14% to $7.5 billion and consolidated operating income decreased 49% to $1.7 billion, as compared to consolidated net revenues of $8.8 billion and consolidated operating income of $3.3 billion in 2021;
•diluted earnings per common share decreased 44% to $1.92, as compared to $3.44 in 2021; and
•cash flows from operating activities were approximately $2.2 billion, a decrease of 8%, as compared to $2.4 billion in 2021.
Since certain of our games are hosted online or include significant online functionality that represents a separate performance obligation, we defer the transaction price allocable to the online functionality from the sale of these games and recognize the attributable revenues over the relevant estimated service periods, which are generally less than a year. Net revenues and operating income for the year ended December 31, 2022, include a net effect of $986 million and $848 million, respectively, from the deferral of net revenues and related cost of revenues.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Company completed its annual assessment of the estimated service periods for players of our games. We have noted that players who purchase in-game content are playing certain of our titles, notably those in our Call of Duty and World of Warcraft offerings, for longer periods of time than in prior years as they engage with services we provide that are designed to enhance and extend gameplay. As such, we have concluded that the estimated service period for in-game revenues from such games has lengthened by approximately three months.
Based on the carrying amount of deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue as of September 30, 2022, the change resulted in a decrease in net revenues recognized of $103 million, a decrease in cost of revenues recognized of $9 million, and a decrease in earnings per diluted share of $0.10 during the three months ended December 31, 2022. Such amounts will now be recognized during the year ending December 31, 2023. The change in the estimated service period had no impact on net bookings, segment net revenues, or net cash provided by operating activities.
The percentages of our consolidated net revenues from revenue sources that are recognized at a “point-in-time” and from sources that are recognized “over-time and other” were as follows:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
Point-in-time (1) 14 % 14 % 16 %
Over-time and other (2) 86 % 86 % 84 %
(1)Revenues recognized at a “point-in-time” are primarily comprised of the portion of revenues from software products that are recognized when the customer takes control of the product (i.e., upon delivery of the software product) and revenues from our Distribution business.
(2)Revenues recognized “over-time and other revenue” are primarily comprised of revenues associated with the online functionality of our games, in-game purchases, and subscriptions.
Summary of Title Release Dates
Throughout the year we regularly release new content through seasonal and live services updates within our franchises, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. Below is a summary of release dates for certain of our titles, including those discussed throughout our analysis for our operating metrics, consolidated results, and operating segment results.
Title Release Date
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® II
October 2022, and when referred to herein, is inclusive of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 from its release on November 16, 2022
Call of Duty: Vanguard November 2021, and when referred to herein, is inclusive of Call of Duty: Warzone from the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard Season 1 content and Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific on December 8, 2021 through November 16, 2022
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
November 2020, and when referred to herein, is inclusive of Call of Duty: Warzone from the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 1 content on December 16, 2020 through December 8, 2021
Call of Duty: Mobile
October 2019
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight™
November 2022
Overwatch 2 October 2022
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King® Classic
September 2022
Diablo Immortal
June 2022
Diablo II: Resurrected™
September 2021
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
November 2020
International Sales
International sales are a fundamental part of our business. An important element of our international strategy is to develop content that is specifically directed toward local cultures and customs. Net revenues from international sales accounted for approximately 51%, 51%, and 52% of our total consolidated net revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively. The majority of our net revenues from foreign countries are generated by consumers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mainland China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.K. Our international business is subject to risks typical of an international business, including, but not limited to, foreign currency exchange rate volatility, our reliance on and relationships with any local partners and distributors, and changes in local economies. Accordingly, our future results could be materially and adversely affected by changes in these factors. See “Management’s Overview of Business Trends - China License Agreements” below for information about the recent expiry of our agreements covering several Blizzard titles in Mainland China.
Operating Metrics
The following operating metrics are key performance indicators that we use to evaluate our business. The key drivers of changes in our operating metrics are presented in the order of significance.
Net bookings and in-game net bookings
We monitor net bookings and in-game net bookings as key operating metrics in evaluating the performance of our business because they enable an analysis of performance based on the timing of actual transactions with our customers and provide a more timely indication of trends in our operating results. Net bookings is the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically in the period and includes license fees, merchandise, and publisher incentives, among others. Net bookings is equal to net revenues excluding the impact from deferrals. In-game net bookings primarily includes the net amount of microtransactions and downloadable content sold during the period and is equal to in-game net revenues excluding the impact from deferrals.
Net bookings and in-game net bookings were as follows (amounts in millions):
For the Years Ended December 31, Increase
(Decrease)
2022 2021
Net bookings $ 8,514 $ 8,354 $ 160
In-game net bookings $ 5,382 $ 5,100 $ 282
Net bookings
The increase in net bookings for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to:
•a $205 million increase in King net bookings, driven by higher net bookings from in-game player purchases in the Candy Crush franchise; and
•a $185 million increase in Blizzard net bookings, driven by higher net bookings from (1) Diablo Immortal and (2) Overwatch 2, partially offset by lower net bookings from (1) Diablo II: Resurrected and (2) World of Warcraft, as revenues from the release of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight were offset by lower subscription and add-on revenues.
The increase in net bookings was offset by a $203 million decrease in Activision net bookings, driven by lower net bookings from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, partially offset by higher net bookings from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard.
In-game net bookings
The increase in in-game net bookings for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to:
•a $481 million increase in Blizzard in-game net bookings, driven by in-game net bookings from (1) Diablo Immortal and (2) Overwatch 2; and
•a $163 million increase in King in-game net bookings, driven by the Candy Crush franchise.
The increase in in-game net booking was partially offset by a $362 million decrease in Activision in-game net bookings, driven by lower in-game net bookings from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, partially offset by higher in-game net bookings from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Monthly Active Users
We monitor monthly active users (“MAUs”) as a key measure of the overall size of our user base. MAUs are the number of individuals who accessed a particular game in a given month. We calculate average MAUs in a period by adding the total number of MAUs in each of the months in a given period and dividing that total by the number of months in the period. An individual who accesses two of our games would be counted as two users. In addition, due to technical limitations, for Activision and King, an individual who accesses the same game on two platforms or devices in the relevant period would be counted as two users. For Blizzard, an individual who accesses the same game on two platforms or devices in the relevant period would generally be counted as a single user. In certain instances, we rely on third parties to publish our games. In these instances, MAU data is based on information provided to us by those third parties or, if final data is not available, reasonable estimates of MAUs for these third-party published games.
The number of MAUs for a given period can be significantly impacted by the timing of new content releases, since new releases may cause a temporary surge in MAUs. Accordingly, although we believe that overall trends in the number of MAUs can be a meaningful performance metric, period-to-period fluctuations may not be indicative of longer-term trends. The following table details our average MAUs on a sequential quarterly basis for each of our reportable segments (amounts in millions):
December 31, 2022 September 30, 2022 June 30, 2022 March 31, 2022 December 31, 2021
Activision 111 97 94 100 107
Blizzard 45 31 27 22 24
King 233 240 240 250 240
Total 389 368 361 372 371
Average MAUs increased by 21 million or 6% for the three months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2022. The increase was primarily due to higher average MAUs for Activision, driven by the Call of Duty franchise, and Blizzard, driven by the launch of Overwatch 2, partially offset by a decrease in average MAUs for Diablo Immortal.
Average MAUs increased by 18 million or 5% for the three months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the three months ended December 31, 2021. The increase was primarily due to higher MAUs for Blizzard, driven by the launch of Overwatch 2.
Management’s Overview of Business Trends
Mobile Gaming and Free-to-Play Games
Wide adoption of smartphones globally and the free-to-play business model, which allows players to try a new game with no upfront cost, on mobile platforms have increased the total addressable audience for gaming significantly by introducing gaming to new age groups and new regions and allowing gaming to occur more widely outside the home. Mobile gaming is estimated to be larger than console and PC gaming, and has grown at a significant rate over the last five years. All of our reportable segments now have successful live mobile titles in the market, and we continue to develop new mobile titles that present the opportunity for us to expand the reach of, and drive additional player investment in, our products. The June 2022 launch of Diablo Immortal is our most recent example of this continued expansion on the mobile platform and we expect 2023 to include the release of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile.
In addition, the free-to-play business model has begun to receive broader acceptance on PC and console platforms. This has provided opportunities for us to increase the reach of our intellectual properties and games through free-to-play offerings, which, in turn, provides opportunities to further drive player investment, as was seen with our Call of Duty: Warzone release in March 2020. We have continued to invest in these opportunities, with 2022 including the free-to-play releases of Overwatch 2 in October 2022 and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 in November 2022.
Importance of our Franchises
A significant portion of our revenues historically has been derived from video games based on our franchises, and these video games have also been responsible for a disproportionately higher percentage of our profits. For example, in 2022, our three franchises-Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush-collectively accounted for 79% of our consolidated net revenues-and a significantly higher percentage of our operating income.
In addition to investing in new content for our games, with the aim of releasing such content more frequently, we are continually exploring additional ways to expand our franchises and games. In recent years we have expanded the Call of Duty franchise with Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile, as well as bringing Diablo content to mobile for the first time with Diablo Immortal. We have similar plans to bring the Warcraft franchise to mobile with Warcraft Arclight Rumble™, which is currently in development.
Overall, we expect that our most popular franchises will continue to produce a disproportionately high percentage of our revenues and profits in the near future. Accordingly, our ability to maintain these franchises and our ability to successfully compete against the wide range of competitive titles available in the industry can significantly impact our performance.
Recurring Revenue Business Models
Increased consumer online connectivity has allowed us to offer players new investment opportunities and to shift our business further towards a more consistently recurring and year-round model through our live services. While our business does continue to experience some periods of “seasonality”, driven primarily by the timing of our new premium full game releases, our in-game content and free-to-play offerings allow our players to access and invest in new content throughout the year. This incremental content not only provides additional high-margin revenues, but it can also increase player engagement.
As we have continued to focus on delivering increased content to our players and to deliver such content more frequently through in-game updates, certain of our games are seeing player engagement and monetization over longer periods of time. As a result, we have noted that players who purchase in-game content are playing certain of our titles, notably those in our Call of Duty and World of Warcraft offerings, for longer periods of time than in prior years. Concurrently, as our games are being monetized over longer periods of time, our capitalized software cost amortization is also elongating to reflect the business performance. Both elongations result in revenues and expenses being recognized over longer periods of time than prior years. Additionally, these elongations have resulted in an increased portion of our capitalized software costs being classified as non-current on our consolidated balance sheet.
Increased Competition for Talent
We believe that our continued success and growth is directly related to our ability to attract, retain, and develop top talent. We have seen increased competition in the market for talent and expect the competitive environment to continue at least in the short term. We have experienced challenges in both the retention of our existing talent and attraction of new talent, but we have more recently seen increasingly positive trends in these areas.
Additionally, refer to the “Our People” section under Part I, Item 1 “Business” for discussion on Activision Blizzard’s initiatives and focus on our employees, including anticipated future investments to achieve our diversity aspirations. See also Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of recent employment matters affecting the Company.
China License Agreements
Activision Blizzard had licensing agreements with NetEase covering the publication of several Blizzard titles in Mainland China. These agreements, which contributed approximately 3% of Activision Blizzard’s consolidated net revenues in both 2021 and 2022, expired in January 2023.
Activision Blizzard is committed to finding alternative ways to serve the community in Mainland China affected by the expiry of these agreements. The co-development and publishing of Diablo Immortal is covered by a separate agreement with NetEase, which remains in place. In addition, Call of Duty: Mobile is governed by agreements with another third party that are unaffected.
Upcoming Content Releases
As publicly announced, we expect 2023 to include the releases of Diablo IV, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile and the next full premium title in the Call of Duty franchise. In addition, throughout the year we expect to deliver ongoing content for our various franchises, including continued in-game content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which includes seasonal content updates for Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, seasonal content updates for Overwatch 2, and other substantial new content for key Blizzard franchises, along with continued releases of content, features, and services across King’s portfolio with an ongoing focus on the Candy Crush franchise. We will also continue to invest in opportunities that we think have the potential to drive our growth over the long-term, including continuing to build on our advertising initiatives and investments in mobile titles.
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data
The following table sets forth consolidated statements of operations data for the periods indicated (amounts in millions) and as a percentage of total net revenues, except for cost of revenues, which are presented as a percentage of associated revenues:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2022 2021
Net revenues
Product sales $ 1,642 22 % $ 2,311 26 %
In-game, subscription, and other revenues 5,886 78 6,492 74
Total net revenues 7,528 100 8,803 100
Costs and expenses
Cost of revenues-product sales:
Product costs 519 32 649 28
Software royalties and amortization 231 14 346 15
Cost of revenues-in-game, subscription, and other:
Game operations and distribution costs 1,324 22 1,215 19
Software royalties and amortization 148 3 107 2
Product development 1,421 19 1,337 15
Sales and marketing 1,217 16 1,025 12
General and administrative 1,001 13 788 9
Restructuring and related costs (3) - 77 1
Total costs and expenses 5,858 78 5,544 63
Operating income 1,670 22 3,259 37
Interest expense from debt 108 1 108 1
Other (income) expense, net (182) (2) (13) -
Income before income tax expense 1,744 23 3,164 36
Income tax expense 231 3 465 5
Net income $ 1,513 20 % $ 2,699 31 %
Consolidated Net Revenues
The key drivers of changes in our consolidated results, operating segment results, and sources of liquidity are presented in the order of significance.
The following table summarizes our consolidated net revenues and in-game net revenues (amounts in millions):
For the Years Ended December 31,
2022 2021 Increase/
(decrease) % Change
Consolidated net revenues
$ 7,528 $ 8,803 $ (1,275) (14) %
In-game net revenues (1)
$ 4,792 $ 5,266 $ (474) (9) %
(1) In-game net revenues primarily includes the net amount of revenues recognized for microtransactions and downloadable content during the period.
Consolidated net revenues
The decrease in consolidated net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily driven by a decrease in revenues of $2.0 billion due to lower revenues from:
•Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War;
•World of Warcraft;
•Diablo II: Resurrected;
•our Distribution business; and
•Call of Duty: Mobile.
This decrease was partially offset by an increase in revenues of $871 million due to higher revenues from:
•Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard;
•Diablo Immortal; and
•the Candy Crush franchise.
The remaining net decrease in revenues of $187 million was driven by various other titles.
In-game net revenues
The decrease in in-game net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily driven by a decrease in in-game net revenues of $990 million due to lower in-game net revenues from:
•Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War;
•World of Warcraft; and
•Call of Duty: Mobile.
This decrease was partially offset by an increase in in-game net revenues of $496 million due to higher in-game net revenues from:
•Diablo Immortal; and
•the Candy Crush franchise.
This decrease was further offset by an increase in in-game net revenues of $20 million from various other titles.
Operating Segment Results
We have three reportable segments-Activision, Blizzard, and King. Our operating segments are consistent with the manner in which our operations are reviewed and managed by our Chief Executive Officer, who is our chief operating decision maker (“CODM”). The CODM reviews segment performance exclusive of: the impact of the change in deferred revenues and related cost of revenues with respect to certain of our online-enabled games; share-based compensation expense (including liability awards accounted for under ASC 718); amortization of intangible assets as a result of purchase price accounting; fees and other expenses (including legal fees, expenses, and accruals) related to acquisitions, associated integration activities, and financings; certain restructuring and related costs; certain partnership wind down related costs; and certain other non-cash charges. The CODM does not review any information regarding total assets on an operating segment basis, and accordingly, no disclosure is made with respect thereto.
Our operating segments are also consistent with our internal organizational structure, the way we assess operating performance and allocate resources, and the availability of separate financial information. We do not aggregate operating segments.
Information on the reportable segment net revenues and segment operating income is presented below (amounts in millions):
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022 Increase / (decrease)
Activision Blizzard King Total Activision Blizzard King Total
Segment Revenues
Net revenues from external customers $ 3,275 $ 1,936 $ 2,785 $ 7,996 $ (203) $ 203 $ 205 $ 205
Intersegment net revenues (1) - 76 - 76 - (18) - (18)
Segment net revenues $ 3,275 $ 2,012 $ 2,785 $ 8,072 $ (203) $ 185 $ 205 $ 187
Segment operating income $ 1,317 $ 625 $ 1,121 $ 3,063 $ (350) $ (73) $ (19) $ (442)
For the Year Ended December 31, 2021
Activision Blizzard King Total
Segment Revenues
Net revenues from external customers $ 3,478 $ 1,733 $ 2,580 $ 7,791
Intersegment net revenues (1) - 94 - 94
Segment net revenues $ 3,478 $ 1,827 $ 2,580 $ 7,885
Segment operating income $ 1,667 $ 698 $ 1,140 $ 3,505
(1)Intersegment revenues reflect licensing and service fees charged between segments.
Reconciliations of total segment net revenues and total segment operating income to consolidated net revenues and consolidated income before income tax expense are presented in the table below (amounts in millions):
For the Years Ended December 31,
2022 2021
Reconciliation to consolidated net revenues:
Segment net revenues $ 8,072 $ 7,885
Revenues from non-reportable segments (1)
518 563
Net effect from recognition (deferral) of deferred net revenues (2) (986) 449
Elimination of intersegment revenues (3)
(76) (94)
Consolidated net revenues
$ 7,528 $ 8,803
Reconciliation to consolidated income before income tax expense:
Segment operating income
$ 3,063 $ 3,505
Operating income (loss) from non-reportable segments (1)
22 2
Net effect from recognition (deferral) of deferred net revenues and related cost of revenues (2) (848) 347
Share-based compensation expense (4) (462) (508)
Amortization of intangible assets (5) (13) (10)
Merger and acquisition-related fees and other expenses (6) (68) -
Restructuring and related costs (7) 3 (77)
Partnership wind down and related costs (8) (27) -
Consolidated operating income
1,670 3,259
Interest expense from debt 108 108
Other (income) expense, net (182) (13)
Consolidated income before income tax expense $ 1,744 $ 3,164
(1)Includes other income and expenses outside of our reportable segments, including our Distribution business and unallocated corporate income and expenses.
(2)Reflects the net effect from recognition (deferral) of deferred net revenues, along with related cost of revenues, on certain of our online-enabled products.
(3)Intersegment revenues reflect licensing and service fees charged between segments.
(4)Reflects expenses related to share-based compensation.
(5)Reflects amortization of intangible assets from purchase price accounting.
(6)Reflects fees and other expenses related to our proposed transaction with Microsoft, which primarily consist of legal and advisory fees.
(7)Reflects restructuring initiatives, primarily severance and other restructuring-related costs.
(8)Reflects expenses related to the wind down of our partnership with NetEase in Mainland China in regards to licenses covering the publication of several Blizzard titles which expired in January 2023.
Segment Results
Activision
The decrease in Activision’s segment net revenues and operating income for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to lower revenues from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, partially offset by an increase in revenues from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard.
The decrease in segment operating income was also driven by higher product development costs primarily driven by increased costs due to expanded development teams, partially offset by higher capitalization of development costs.
Blizzard
The increase in Blizzard’s segment net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to higher revenues from Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2.
This increase in segment net revenues was partially offset by lower revenues from:
•Diablo II: Resurrected; and
•World of Warcraft, as revenues from the release of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight were offset by lower subscription and add-on revenues.
The decrease in segment operating income, despite the increase in segment net revenues, was driven by:
•higher cost of revenues, primarily from Diablo Immortal, partially offset by lower software amortization and royalties on Diablo II: Resurrected; and
•higher sales and marketing costs, primarily for Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2.
Product development costs were comparable year over year, with increased costs due to expanded development teams being offset higher capitalization of development costs.
King
The increase in King’s segment net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to higher revenues from in-game player purchases in the Candy Crush franchise.
Despite the increase in segment net revenues, King’s segment operating income decreased for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to:
•higher sales and marketing costs, primarily for the Candy Crush franchise; and
•lower insurance claim proceeds, as the prior year included receipt of insurance proceeds relating to a network outage which occurred in 2018 from changes made by a third-party partner which inadvertently impacted some users’ ability to play and spend money in King games.
Foreign Exchange Impact
Changes in foreign exchange rates had a negative impact of $293 million and a positive impact of $100 million on Activision Blizzard’s segment net revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, as compared to the same periods in the previous year. The changes are primarily due to changes in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the euro and the British pound.
Consolidated Results
Net Revenues by Distribution Channel
The following table details our consolidated net revenues by distribution channel (amounts in millions):
For the Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 Increase/
(decrease) % Change
Net revenues by distribution channel:
Digital online channels (1) $ 6,633 $ 7,663 $ (1,030) (13) %
Retail channels
290 479 (189) (39)
Other (2)
605 661 (56) (8)
Total consolidated net revenues
$ 7,528 $ 8,803 $ (1,275) (14)
(1)Net revenues from “Digital online channels” include revenues from digitally-distributed downloadable content, microtransactions, subscriptions, and products, as well as licensing royalties.
(2)Net revenues from “Other” primarily include revenues from our Distribution business, the Overwatch League, and the Call of Duty League.
Digital Online Channel Net Revenues
The decrease in net revenues from digital online channels for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to lower revenues from:
•Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War;
•World of Warcraft; and
•Diablo II: Resurrected.
This decrease was partially offset by higher revenues from:
•Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard;
•Diablo Immortal; and
•the Candy Crush franchise.
Retail Channel Net Revenues
The decrease in net revenues from retail channels for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to lower revenues from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Net Revenues by Platform
The following tables detail our net revenues by platform (amounts in millions):
For the Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 Increase/
(decrease) % Change
Net revenues by platform:
Console $ 1,753 $ 2,637 $ (884) (34) %
PC 1,653 2,323 (670) (29)
Mobile and ancillary (1)
3,517 3,182 335 11
Other (2) 605 661 (56) (8)
Total consolidated net revenues
$ 7,528 $ 8,803 $ (1,275) (14)
(1)Net revenues from “Mobile and ancillary” primarily include revenues from mobile devices.
(2)Net revenues from “Other” primarily include revenues from our Distribution business, the Overwatch League, and the Call of Duty League.
Console
The decrease in net revenues from the console platform for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to lower revenues from Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, partially offset by an increase in net revenues from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard.
PC
The decrease in net revenues from the PC platform for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to lower revenues from: World of Warcraft, along with the same drivers and offsets noted above for the console platform.
Mobile and Ancillary
The increase in net revenues from mobile and ancillary for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to higher revenues from:
•the Candy Crush franchise; and
•Diablo Immortal.
Costs and Expenses
Cost of Revenues
The following tables detail the components of cost of revenues in dollars (amounts in millions) and as a percentage of associated net revenues:
Year Ended December 31, 2022 % of
associated
net revenues Year Ended December 31, 2021 % of
associated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
Cost of revenues-product sales:
Product costs $ 519 32 % $ 649 28 % $ (130)
Software royalties and amortization 231 14 346 15 (115)
Cost of revenues-in-game, subscription, and other:
Game operations and distribution costs
1,324 22 1,215 19 109
Software royalties and amortization 148 3 107 2 41
Total cost of revenues
$ 2,222 30 % $ 2,317 26 % $ (95)
Cost of Revenues-Product Sales:
The decrease in product costs for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was driven by:
•a $102 million decrease in product costs for our Distribution business due to lower revenues; and
•a $45 million decrease in product costs from Activision, driven by lower product costs for Call of Duty: Vanguard as compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War due to lower revenues.
The decrease in software royalties and amortization related to product sales for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to a $113 million decrease in software amortization and royalties from Blizzard, driven by lower software amortization and royalties from (1) World of Warcraft, as the prior year included higher amortization associated with the release of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and (2) Diablo II: Resurrected.
Cost of Revenues-In-game, Subscription, and Other:
The increase in game operations and distribution costs for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to a $104 million increase in service provider fees, primarily digital storefront fees (e.g., fees retained by Apple and Google for our sales on their platforms), as a result of higher revenues.
The increase in software royalties and amortization related to in-game, subscription, and other for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to a $55 million increase in software royalties and amortization from Blizzard, driven by Diablo Immortal.
Product Development (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
Product development $ 1,421 19 % $ 1,337 15 % $ 84
The increase in product development costs for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was driven by a $475 million increase in development spending. The higher development spending was primarily due to expanded development teams and higher share-based compensation, partially offset by higher capitalization of development costs of $391 million.
Sales and Marketing (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
Sales and marketing $ 1,217 16 % $ 1,025 12 % $ 192
The increase in sales and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to higher marketing spending for the Candy Crush franchise and Diablo Immortal.
General and Administrative (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
General and administrative $ 1,001 13 % $ 788 9 % $ 213
The increase in general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to:
•a $142 million increase in legal and other professional fees, primarily driven by our employment-related matters, inclusive of the $35 million settlement with the SEC announced on February 3, 2023, and proposed transaction with Microsoft; and
•lower insurance claim proceeds of $58 million, as the prior year included receipt of insurance proceeds relating to a network outage which occurred in 2018 from changes made by a third-party partner which inadvertently impacted some users’ ability to play and spend money in King games.
Restructuring and Related Costs (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
Restructuring and related costs $ (3) - % $ 77 1 % $ (80)
During 2019, we began implementing a plan aimed at refocusing our resources on our largest opportunities and removing unnecessary levels of complexity and duplication from certain parts of our business. We substantially completed all actions under our plan and accrued for these costs accordingly in 2021. The remaining activity under the plan is primarily related to cash outlays to be made over time to impacted personnel.
Interest expense from debt (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Increase
(Decrease)
Interest expense from debt $ 108 1 % $ 108 1 % $ -
Interest expense from debt for the year ended December 31, 2022 was comparable to December 31, 2021.
Other (Income) Expense, Net (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
consolidated
net revenues December 31, 2021 % of
consolidated
net revenues Decrease
(Increase)
Other (income) expense, net $ (182) (2) % $ (13) - % $ (169)
The increase in other (income) expense, net, for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, was primarily due to a $160 million increase in interest income due to higher market interest rate yields compared to the prior year.
Income Tax Expense (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 % of
Pretax
income December 31, 2021 % of
Pretax
income Increase
(Decrease)
Income tax expense $ 231 13 % $ 465 15 % $ (234)
The income tax expense of $231 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 reflects an effective tax rate of 13%, which is lower than the effective tax rate of 15% for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease is primarily due to changes in the mix of our pre-tax income between countries and lower taxes on foreign earnings.
The effective tax rate of 13% for the year ended December 31, 2022, is lower than the U.S. statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to foreign earnings taxed at lower rates, research and development credits, discrete tax benefits recognized related to tax return to accrual adjustments, and the recognition of previously unrecognized tax benefits.
The overall effective income tax rate in future periods will depend on a variety of factors, such as changes in pre-tax income or loss by jurisdiction, applicable accounting rules, applicable tax laws and regulations, and rulings and interpretations thereof, developments in tax audits and other matters, and variations in the estimated and actual level of annual pre-tax income or loss.
Other information about our income taxes is provided in Note 19 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Foreign Exchange Impact
Changes in foreign exchange rates had a negative impact of $305 million and a positive impact of $107 million on our consolidated net revenues in 2022 and 2021, respectively, as compared to the same periods in the previous year.
Changes in foreign exchange rates had a negative impact of $138 million and a positive impact of $30 million on our consolidated operating income in 2022 and 2021, respectively, as compared to the same periods in the previous year.
Comparison of 2021 to 2020
For the comparison of 2021 to 2020, refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We believe our ability to generate cash flows from operating activities is one of our fundamental financial strengths. In the near term, we expect our business and financial condition to remain strong and to continue to generate significant operating cash flows. We believe these operating cash flows, in combination with our existing balance of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $12.1 billion, will be sufficient to finance our operational and financing requirements for the next 12 months and beyond. Our primary sources of liquidity include our cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and cash flows provided by operating activities. Our material cash requirements include operating expenses, potential dividend payments and share repurchases, scheduled debt maturities (the next of which is in 2026), capital expenditures and other commitments, as discussed below.
As of December 31, 2022, the amount of cash and cash equivalents held outside of the U.S. by our foreign subsidiaries was $4.6 billion, as compared to $3.9 billion as of December 31, 2021. These cash balances are generally available for use in the U.S., subject in some cases to certain restrictions.
Our cash provided from operating activities is somewhat impacted by seasonality. Working capital needs are impacted by sales, which are generally highest in the fourth quarter due to title release timing and holiday-related sales patterns. We consider, on a continuing basis, various transactions to increase shareholder value and enhance our business results, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, dividends, share repurchases, and other structural changes, with certain of the foregoing actions, if we were to move forward with them, requiring Microsoft's approval under the Merger Agreement (which may not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned, or delayed), subject to certain exceptions. These transactions may result in future cash proceeds or payments.
Sources of Liquidity (amounts in millions)
December 31, 2022 December 31, 2021 Increase
(Decrease)
Cash and cash equivalents $ 7,060 $ 10,423 $ (3,363)
Short-term investments 5,005 195 4,810
$ 12,065 $ 10,618 $ 1,447
Percentage of total assets 44 % 42 %
For the Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 Increase
(Decrease)
Net cash provided by operating activities $ 2,220 $ 2,414 $ (194)
Net cash used in investing activities (4,994) (59) (4,935)
Net cash used in financing activities (534) (521) (13)
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes (44) (48) 4
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash $ (3,352) $ 1,786 $ (5,138)
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities
The primary driver of net cash flows associated with our operating activities is the income generated from the sale of our products and services. This is partially offset by: working capital requirements used in the development, sale, and support of our products; payments to our workforce; payments for tax liabilities; and payments for interest on our debt.
Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $2.2 billion, as compared to $2.4 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to lower net income based on business performance, higher capitalized software development spending, unfavorable impact on accounts receivable due to the strength of net bookings in the fourth quarter of 2022 and timing of collections. These were partially offset by other changes in working capital, including lower cash used to settle the 2021 annual incentive compensation plans due to such amounts being paid in equity and lower tax payments.
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities
The primary drivers of net cash flows associated with investing activities typically include purchases and sales of investments, capital expenditures, and cash used for acquisitions.
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $5.0 billion, as compared to $59 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was primarily due to purchases of $4.9 billion of held-to-maturity investments and $135 million net cash used in business acquisitions during the year ended December 31, 2022 with no similar activity in the prior year.
Net Cash Used in Financing Activities
The primary drivers of net cash flows associated with financing activities typically include the proceeds from, and repayments of, our long-term debt and transactions involving our common stock, including the issuance of shares of common stock to employees upon the exercise of stock options, as well as the payment of dividends.
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $534 million, as compared to $521 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was primarily due to $43 million lower proceeds received from the issuance of common stock to employees due to fewer employee stock options exercised, partially offset by $32 million lower tax payments relating to net share settlements on restricted stock units.
Effect of Foreign Exchange Rate Changes
Changes in foreign exchange rates had a negative impact of $44 million and $48 million on our cash and cash equivalents for the year ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to changes in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the euro and the British pound.
Debt
At both December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, our total gross unsecured senior notes outstanding was $3.7 billion, bearing interest at a weighted average rate of 2.87%.
A summary of our outstanding debt is as follows (amounts in millions):
At December 31, 2022 At December 31, 2021
2026 Notes $ 850 $ 850
2027 Notes 400 400
2030 Notes 500 500
2047 Notes 400 400
2050 Notes 1,500 1,500
Total gross long-term debt $ 3,650 $ 3,650
Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs (39) (42)
Total net carrying amount $ 3,611 $ 3,608
Refer to Note 13 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further disclosures regarding our debt obligations.
Dividends
On February 3, 2022, our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.47 per common share. On May 6, 2022, we made an aggregate cash dividend payment of $367 million to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 15, 2022. See Item 5 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further disclosures regarding our payment of dividends.
Capital Expenditures
We made capital expenditures of $91 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to $80 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. In 2023, we anticipate total capital expenditures of approximately $100 million, primarily for computer hardware, leasehold improvements, and software purchases.
Commitments
Refer to Note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for disclosures regarding our commitments, including a table showing contractual obligations.
Comparison of 2021 to 2020
For the comparison of the year ended December 31, 2021 to the year ended December 31, 2020, refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, under the subheading “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
At each of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, Activision Blizzard had no significant relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial parties, often referred to as “structured finance” or “special purpose” entities, established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes that have or are reasonably likely to have a material current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures, or capital resources.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The impact and any associated risks related to these estimates on our business operations are discussed throughout Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations where such estimates affect our reported and expected financial results. The estimates discussed below are considered by management to be critical because they are both important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations and because their application places the most significant demands on management’s judgment, with financial reporting results relying on estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Specific risks for these critical accounting estimates are described in the following paragraphs.
For a detailed discussion of the application of these and other accounting policies, see Note 2 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue primarily through the sale of our interactive entertainment content and services, principally for the console, PC, and mobile platforms, as well as through the licensing of our intellectual property. Our products span various genres, including first- and third-person action/adventure, role-playing, strategy, and “match three.”
Significant Judgment around Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables
Our contracts with customers often include promises to transfer multiple products and services. Determining whether products and services are considered distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately versus together may require significant judgment. Certain of our games, such as titles in the Call of Duty franchise, may contain a license of our intellectual property to play the game offline, but may also depend on a significant level of integration and interdependency with the online functionality. In these cases, significant judgment is required to determine whether this license of our intellectual property should be considered distinct and accounted for separately, or not distinct and accounted for together with the online functionality provided and recognized over time. Generally, for titles in which the software license is functional without the online functionality and a significant component of gameplay is available offline, we believe we have separate performance obligations for the license of the intellectual property and the online functionality.
Significant judgment is also required to determine the standalone selling price for each distinct performance obligation and to determine whether there is a discount that needs to be allocated based on the relative standalone selling price of the various products and services. To estimate the standalone selling price we generally consider market data, including our pricing strategies for the product being evaluated and other similar products we may offer, competitor pricing to the extent data is available, and the replayability design of both the offline and online components of our games. In limited instances, we may also utilize an expected cost approach to determine whether the estimated selling price yields an appropriate profit margin.
Estimated Service Period
We consider a variety of data points when determining the estimated service period for players of our games, including the weighted average number of days between players’ unique purchase or first day played online, and the time at which players become inactive and cease engaging with our content for a period of time. We also consider known online trends such as the cadence of content delivery in our games, the service periods of our previously released games, and, to the extent publicly available, the service periods of our competitors’ games that are similar in nature to ours. We believe this provides a reasonable depiction of the transfer of services to our customers, as it is the best representation of the time period during which our customers play our games. Determining the estimated service period is subjective and requires significant management judgment. The estimated service periods for players of our current games are less than 12 months.
Additionally, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Company completed its annual assessment of the estimated service periods for players of our games. We have noted that players who purchase in-game content are playing certain of our titles, notably those in our Call of Duty and World of Warcraft offerings, for longer periods of time than in prior years as they engage with services we provide that are designed to enhance and extend gameplay. As such, we have concluded that the estimated service period for in-game revenues from such games has lengthened by approximately three months.
Based on the carrying amount of deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue as of September 30, 2022, the change resulted in a decrease in net revenues recognized of $103 million, a decrease in cost of revenues recognized of $9 million, and a decrease in earnings per diluted share of $0.10 during the three months ended December 31, 2022. Such amounts will now be recognized during the year ending December 31, 2023. The change in the estimated service period had no impact on net bookings, segment net revenues, or net cash provided by operating activities.
Future usage patterns could change from historical patterns as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, changes in our online content, frequency of content delivery, competitor’s offerings, and other changes that impact player’s engagement that we may not be able to reasonable predict at the time of deriving our estimate. If future usage patterns were to change significantly from historical patterns, in the future our estimated service period could change again and materially impact our future consolidated net revenues and operating income.
Income Taxes
We record a tax provision for the anticipated tax consequences of the reported results of operations. In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740, the provision for income taxes is computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and operating losses and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities due to a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.
We evaluate deferred tax assets each period for recoverability. For those assets that do not meet the threshold of “more likely than not” that they will be realized in the future, a valuation allowance is recorded. As of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had valuation allowances of $305 million and $278 million, respectively, on gross deferred tax asset balances of $2.1 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively.
Management believes it is more likely than not that forecasted income, including income that may be generated as a result of certain tax planning strategies, together with the tax effects of the deferred tax liabilities, will be sufficient to fully recover the remaining deferred tax assets. In the event that all or part of the net deferred tax assets are determined not to be realizable in the future, an adjustment to the valuation allowance would be charged to tax expense in the period such determination is made.
The calculation of tax liabilities involves significant judgment in estimating the impact of uncertainties in the application of ASC Topic 740 and complex tax laws. The accounting guidance for uncertainty in income taxes applies to all income tax positions, including the potential recovery of previously paid taxes. Resolution of these uncertainties in a manner inconsistent with management’s expectations could have a material impact on our business and results of operations in an interim period in which the uncertainties are ultimately resolved.
Significant judgment is required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes. Although we believe our reserves are reasonable, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different from that which is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. We adjust these reserves in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made. The provision for income taxes includes the impact of reserve provisions and changes to reserves that are considered appropriate, as well as the related net interest and penalties.
We are also subject to the continuous examination of our income tax returns by the IRS and are regularly subject to audit by other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. There can be no assurance that the outcomes from these continuous examinations will not have an adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition. For the year ended December 31, 2022, one percentage point increase in our effective tax rate would have resulted in an increase in our income tax expense of approximately $17 million.
Software Development Costs
Software development costs are capitalized once the technological feasibility of a product is established and such costs are determined to be recoverable. Technological feasibility of a product requires both technical design documentation and game design documentation, or the completed and tested product design and a working model. For products where proven technology exists, this may occur early in the development cycle. Software development costs related to online hosted revenue arrangements are capitalized after the preliminary project phase is complete and it is probable that the project will be completed and the software will be used to perform the function intended. Significant management judgments and estimates are applied in assessing when capitalization commences for software development costs and the evaluation is performed on a product-by-product-basis.
Commencing upon a product’s release, capitalized software development costs are amortized to “Cost of revenues-software royalties and amortization” based on the higher of the ratio of current revenues to total projected revenues for the specific product, or on a straight-line basis over the product’s estimated economic life. As we have continued to focus on delivering increased content to our players and to deliver such content more frequently through in-game updates, we are seeing our titles being monetized over longer periods of time. Accordingly, the estimated economic lives of our most recent titles have generally extended and the capitalized software costs are being amortized over longer periods of time in those cases. As of December 31, 2022, the amortization periods of our capitalized software costs are from six months to approximately three years.
We evaluate the future recoverability of capitalized software development costs on a quarterly basis. Recoverability is evaluated based on the current and expected performance of the specific products to which the costs relate or in which the licensed trademark or copyright is to be used. Additionally, criteria used to evaluate expected product performance may include, as appropriate: historical performance of comparable products developed with comparable technology; market performance of comparable titles; orders for the product prior to its release; general market conditions; and, for any sequel product, estimated performance based on the performance of the product on which the sequel is based.
Significant management judgments and estimates are utilized in assessing the recoverability of capitalized costs. In evaluating the recoverability of capitalized costs, the assessment of expected product performance utilizes forecasted sales amounts and estimates of additional costs to be incurred. Historically, our forecasted and actual product sales have been more than enough to recover capitalized software costs. If revised forecasted or actual product sales are less than the originally forecasted amounts utilized in the initial recoverability analysis, the net realizable value may be lower than originally estimated in any given quarter, which could result in an impairment charge. Material differences may result in the amount and timing of expenses for any period if matters resolve in a manner that is inconsistent with management’s expectations.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Market risk is the potential loss arising from fluctuations in market rates and prices. Our market risk exposures primarily include fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
We transact business in many different foreign currencies and may be exposed to financial market risk resulting from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Revenues and related expenses generated from our international operations are generally denominated in their respective local currencies. Primary currencies include euros, British pounds, Australian dollars, South Korean won, Chinese yuan, and Swedish krona. To the extent the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency-denominated transactions will result in reduced revenues, operating expenses, net income, and cash flows from our international operations. Similarly, our revenues, operating expenses, net income, and cash flows will increase for our international operations if the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies. Since we have significant international sales but incur the majority of our costs in the U.S., the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, particularly the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, generally cause a disproportional impact on our business. We monitor currency volatility throughout the year.
To mitigate our foreign currency risk resulting from our foreign currency-denominated monetary assets, liabilities, and earnings and our foreign currency risk related to functional currency-equivalent cash flows, we periodically enter into currency derivative contracts, principally forward contracts. These forward contracts generally have a maturity of less than one year. The counterparties for our currency derivative contracts are large and reputable commercial or investment banks.
The fair values of our foreign currency contracts are estimated based on the prevailing exchange rates of the various hedged currencies as of the end of the period.
We do not hold or purchase any foreign currency forward contracts for trading or speculative purposes.
Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Designated as Hedges (“Cash Flow Hedges”)
Refer to Note 10 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for disclosures regarding our foreign currency forward contracts.
In the absence of hedging activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, a hypothetical adverse foreign currency exchange rate movement of 10% would have resulted in a theoretical decline of our net income of approximately $145 million. This sensitivity analysis assumes a parallel adverse shift of all foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar; however, all foreign currency exchange rates do not always move in this manner, and actual results may differ materially.
Interest Rate Risk
Our exposure to market rate risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our investment portfolio, as our outstanding debt is all at fixed rates. Our investment portfolio consists primarily of money market funds and government securities with high credit quality and short average maturities. Because short-term securities mature relatively quickly and must be reinvested at the then-current market rates, interest income on a portfolio consisting of cash, cash equivalents, or short-term securities is more subject to market fluctuations than a portfolio of longer-term securities. Conversely, the fair value of such a portfolio is less sensitive to market fluctuations than a portfolio of longer-term securities. At December 31, 2022, our cash and cash equivalents were comprised primarily of money market funds and we had approximately $5 billion invested in securities classified as held-to-maturity investments which have fixed interest yields and will mature over the next six months.
As of December 31, 2022, based on the composition of our investment portfolio, material movements (higher or lower) of short-term interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve can have a material impact on our future interest income.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Los Angeles, California, PCAOB ID: 238)
Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 2022 and 2021
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Schedule II-Valuation and Qualifying Accounts at December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020
Other financial statement schedules are omitted because the information called for is not applicable or is shown either in the Consolidated Financial Statements or the Notes thereto.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Definition and Limitations of Disclosure Controls and Procedures.
Our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) are designed to reasonably ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act is: (1) recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms; and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance that it will detect or uncover failures within the Company to disclose material information otherwise required to be set forth in our periodic reports. Inherent limitations to any system of disclosure controls and procedures include, but are not limited to, the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of such controls by one or more persons. In addition, we have designed our system of controls based on certain assumptions, which we believe are reasonable, about the likelihood of future events, and our system of controls may therefore not achieve its desired objectives under all possible future events.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures.
Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures at December 31, 2022, the end of the period covered by this report. Based on this evaluation, the principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, at December 31, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized, and reported on a timely basis, and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness, as of December 31, 2022, of our internal control over financial reporting using the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013). Based on this evaluation, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2022.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies and procedures may deteriorate.
The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.
Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has evaluated any changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Based on this evaluation, the principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, at December 31, 2022, there have not been any changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required by this Item, other than the information regarding executive officers, which is included in Item 1 of this report, is incorporated by reference to the sections of our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders entitled “Proposal 1-Election of Directors,” “Corporate Governance Matters-Board Committees,” “Corporate Governance Matters-Governance Documents-Code of Conduct,” and, if applicable, “Beneficial Ownership Matters-Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports” to be filed with the SEC.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the sections of our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders entitled “Executive Compensation” and “Director Compensation” to be filed with the SEC.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the sections of our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders entitled “Beneficial Ownership Matters,” “Equity Compensation Plan Information,” and “Corporate Governance Matters-Board Committees,” to be filed with the SEC.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the sections of our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders entitled “Corporate Governance Matters-Director Independence”, “Corporate Governance Matters-Board Committees” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions” to be filed with the SEC.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the sections of our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders entitled “Audit-Related Matters” to be filed with the SEC.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) 1 Financial Statements See Item 8.-Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data for index to Financial Statements and Financial Statement Schedule on page 62 herein.
2 Financial Statement Schedule The following financial statement schedule of Activision Blizzard for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020 is filed as part of this report on page and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of Activision Blizzard:
Schedule II-Valuation and Qualifying Accounts
Other financial statement schedules are omitted because the information called for is not applicable or is shown either in the Consolidated Financial Statements or the Notes thereto.
3 The exhibits listed on the accompanying index to exhibits immediately following the financial statements are filed as part of, or hereby incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.