Skylanders and Guitar Hero cited in lower-than-expected Activision profits

Activision reported lower-than-expected profits for the holiday quarter, and chalked up slow launches for both Skylanders Superchargers and Guitar Hero Live as causes.

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Activision Blizzard's latest financial results showed lower-than-expected profits for the holiday quarter today.

The publisher attributes its results to both Skylanders Superchargers and Guitar Hero Live performing below expectations. While Call of Duty continued to be a sales juggernaut, achieving the highest physical sales of the year, it wasn't enough to make up for those two hits. Black Ops 3 generated more than $550 million in its first three days of release. 

This also comes as Activision prepares to finalize its acquisition of King Digital, in an attempt to gain a bigger part of the mobile market. It also recently announced it is purchasing Major League Gaming, in an effort to push into the eSports market.

As part of its financial statements, Activision confirmed a Destiny expansion will be coming this year, with a full sequel due in 2017.

Last year, Activision was added to the S&P 500. In our analysis, we pointed out that the listing signified a calculated risk, since it makes their success more correlated to moves in the stock market.

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