Shares in Activision Blizzard, the parent company of video game maker Blizzard Entertainment of Irvine, sank more than 10% in after-hours trading after it provided fourth-quarter guidance well below analysts’ expectations and announced delays in sequels to two popular games.
The Santa Monica-based company said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 62 cents a share on adjusted net revenue of $2.02 billion. The average of two-dozen analysts cited by Yahoo Finance called for an EPS of $1.39 on revenue of $2.9 billion in the current period.
The company said Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 will take longer than anticipated to finish, though no firm release date was provided.
In addition, Jen Oneal announced that she was stepping down as one of the two co-leaders of Blizzard Entertainment, leaving Mike Ybarra as the sole leader.
Activision Blizzard said third-quarter revenue rose to $2.07 billion, a 5.9% increase compared to the same period a year ago.
The shares were trading at $69.21 apiece as of 7.31 p.m. in New York for a market cap of about $54 billion.
