Activision Blizzard has published its financial statements for the first quarter of 2021. The Call of Duty franchise resulted in the publisher’s highest Q1 sales of all time. But Blizzard Entertainment games are losing popularity.

Activision Blizzard’s revenue for the three months ended March 31 rose 27% to $ 2.28 billion, and net income rose 23% to $ 619 million. Activision Publishing contributed the most to these numbers, with revenue growing 72% compared to last year thanks to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Call of Duty: Mobile.

Blizzard Entertainment hasn’t had any high-profile releases lately, so this division brought in as expected less than Activision Publishing. Blizzard Entertainment’s revenue grew 7% to $ 483 million thanks to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands and World of Warcraft Classic. The company also confirmed that Diablo 2: Resurrected and mobile Diablo Immortal are slated for release later this year, with the former receiving “very positive reviews” during early testing.

Blizzard Entertainment also noted that the number of active users of all its projects per month decreased compared to last year by 16%, to 27 million. Over the past three years, it has lost 11 million players (or almost 29%):

• 38 million in the first quarter of 2018;
• 37 million in the second quarter of 2018;
• 37 million in Q3 2018 (World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth)
• 35 million in the fourth quarter of 2018;
• 32 million in the first quarter of 2019;
• 32 million in the second quarter of 2019;
• 33 million in Q3 2019 (World of Warcraft Classic);
• 32 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 ( history with Blitzchung );
• 32 million in the first quarter of 2020 (COVID-19);
• 32 million in the second quarter of 2020 (COVID-19);
• 30 million in the third quarter of 2020 (COVID-19);
• 29 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 (COVID-19, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands);
• 27 million in the first quarter of 2021 (reporting quarter).