Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Expects 1 Billion Customers in 5 Years
During CNBC’s Evolve LA Conference, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick suggested the company could bump their customer base from the current 350 million to a billion in the next five years. Their plan to increase the customer base includes more frequent releases on multiple platforms, including mobile devices. Kotick mentioned that the recent release of Call of Duty Mobile, available on iOS and Android, saw 100 million consumers sign up within a month. He also expressed that the customer base should feel more like a community but he also needs to appeal to stakeholders, shareholders, etc.
“Today we have roughly 350 million customers in 190 countries, there is not a good reason why that number shouldn’t be a billion in the next five years. It starts with more frequent release of content, taking franchises that we have and growing them onto new platforms,” said Bobby Kotick. “When games became available on phones, the market exploded and the audience size went from a few hundred million to billions of potential consumers.” We get a little worried when Kotick talks about numbers like these as when developers, publishers, etc. set expectations too high, it ends up hurting them.
“We’re the operator of the communities that allow you to have fun through the lens of a video game,” said Bobby Kotick when asked about the Blitzchung controversy. “my responsibility is to make sure that our communities feel safe, secure, comfortable and satisfied and entertained. And so that doesn’t convey to me the right to have a platform for a lot of political views, I don’t think. I think my responsibility is to satisfy our audiences and our stakeholders, our employees, our shareholders.” Apparently Kotick wants millions of more customers but he doesn’t want them to speak openly.
Do you think that Activision Blizzard will be able to achieve a billion customers or is Bobby Kotick setting expectations way too high? Are you an existing customer of theirs? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: wccftech