動視暴雪 (ATVI) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Activision Blizzard Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加動視暴雪 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Hickey, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係高級副總裁克里斯·希基 (Chris Hickey)。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for Activision Blizzard's Third Quarter 2021 Conference Call. With us are Bobby Kotick, CEO; Daniel Alegre, President and COO; and Armin Zerza, CFO. And for Q&A, Rob Kostich, Mike Ybarra and Humam Sakhnini, the leaders of Activision, Blizzard and King, respectively, will also join us.

下午好，感謝您今天參加動視暴雪 2021 年第三季電話會議。與我們在一起的還有執行長 Bobby Kotick；丹尼爾·阿萊格里，總裁兼營運長；和財務長 Armin Zerza。動視、暴雪和 King 的領導者 Rob Kostich、Mike Ybarra 和 Humam Sakhnini 也將參加問答環節。

I would like to remind everyone that during this call, we will be making statements that are not historical facts. The forward-looking statements in this presentation are based on information available to the company as of the date of this presentation. And while we believe them to be true, they ultimately may prove to be incorrect. A number of factors could cause the company's actual future results and other future circumstances to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk factors discussed in our SEC filings, including our 2020 annual report on Form 10-K and third quarter 2021 Form 10-Q and those on the slide that is shown.

我想提醒大家，在這次電話會議中，我們將發表並非歷史事實的聲明。本簡報中的前瞻性聲明是基於截至本簡報發布之日公司可獲得的資訊。雖然我們相信它們是真實的，但它們最終可能被證明是錯誤的。許多因素可能導致公司未來的實際業績和其他未來情況與任何前瞻性陳述中表達的情況有重大差異。其中包括 COVID-19 大流行的影響、我們在 SEC 文件中討論的風險因素，包括我們的 10-K 表 2020 年年度報告和 2021 年第三季 10-Q 表以及幻燈片中顯示的內容。

The company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after today, November 2, 2021. We will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures during this call. We provide non-GAAP financial measures to exclude the impact of expenses related to stock-based compensation; the amortization of intangible assets and expenses related to acquisitions including legal fees, costs, expenses and accruals; expenses related to debt financings and refinancings; restructuring and related charges; the associated tax benefits of these excluded items; and significant discrete tax-related items including amounts related to changes in tax laws, amounts related to the potential or final resolution of tax positions and other unusual or unique tax-related items and activities.

該公司沒有義務公開發布任何前瞻性陳述的任何修訂，以反映 2021 年 11 月 2 日之後發生的事件或情況。我們提供非公認會計準則財務指標，以排除與股票薪酬相關的費用的影響；無形資產攤提和與收購相關的費用，包括法律費用、成本、開支和應計費用；與債務融資和再融資相關的費用；重組及相關費用；這些排除項目的相關稅務優惠；重大離散稅務相關項目，包括與稅法變更相關的金額、與稅務狀況的潛在或最終解決相關的金額以及其他不尋常或獨特的稅務相關項目和活動。

These non-GAAP measures are not intended to be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to our GAAP results. We encourage investors to consider all measures before making an investment decision. Please refer to our earnings release, which is posted on www.activisionblizzard.com for a full GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation and further explanation with respect to our non-GAAP measures. There is an earnings presentation, which you can access with the webcast and which will be posted to the website following the call.

這些非公認會計原則衡量指標不應被視為孤立、替代或優於我們的公認會計原則結果。我們鼓勵投資者在做出投資決定之前考慮所有措施。請參閱我們發佈在 www.activisionblizzard.com 上的收益報告，以了解完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整以及有關我們的非 GAAP 措施的進一步說明。您可以透過網路廣播存取收益演示，並將在電話會議後發佈到網站上。

And now I'd like to introduce our CEO, Bobby Kotick.

現在我想介紹一下我們的執行長 Bobby Kotick。

Thank you, Chris, and thank you all for joining us today. As I said during our last earnings call, I want Activision Blizzard to be the leader in our industry for workplace culture. Since then, the leadership team and I have been hard at work listening to employees and implementing meaningful changes. I'd like to review the actions we've taken over the past few months with you today.

謝謝克里斯，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。正如我在上次財報電話會議上所說，我希望動視暴雪成為職場文化產業的領導者。從那時起，我和領導團隊一直努力傾聽員工的意見並實施有意義的變革。今天我想與大家回顧我們過去幾個月所採取的行動。

As we've made clear in certain instances relating to workplace culture, we should have done a better job ensuring our values were embraced across all parts of the company. Over the last few years, we've been focused on the improvements that are necessary to become a model workplace. We are, of course, taking these actions because any single instance of wrongful conduct at our company is unacceptable. But these actions we're taking are also the right ones for our business success. We can't achieve our business ambitions without the very best talent. People with the talents we need have more alternatives for highly paid work opportunities than ever before. If we don't constantly evolve as a great place to work, we won't retain or attract the talent we need to realize our tremendous potential.

正如我們在與工作場所文化相關的某些情況下明確表示的那樣，我們應該做得更好，確保我們的價值觀在公司的所有部門得到接受。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直致力於成為模範工作場所所需的改進。當然，我們採取這些行動是因為我們公司的任何不當行為都是不可接受的。但我們正在採取的這些行動對於我們的業務成功也是正確的。沒有最優秀的人才，我們就無法實現我們的商業抱負。擁有我們所需人才的人比以往任何時候都有更多的高薪工作機會選擇。如果我們不持續發展成為一個優秀的工作場所，我們就無法留住或吸引實現我們巨大潛力所需的人才。

As a company, we have more opportunities ahead of us than I've seen in almost all the years I've led the company. The success we've achieved thus far is the result of an overwhelmingly large number of extraordinarily talented people with high integrity and good values focused on delivering great games to our players, which has resulted in superior shareholder returns. This company and many of its leaders and so many of our talented employees, past and present, have shown strength of will, dedicated to the achievement of bold aspiration. Our commitment to make Activision Blizzard the most welcoming and inclusive company in the world will be accomplished the same way our industry leadership has been accomplished, focusing commitment, persistence, strength of will, the unwavering ambition of truly talented people with equally unwavering integrity and the continuous commitments to improvement.

作為一家公司，我們面臨的機會比我領導公司多年來所見過的還要多。我們迄今為止所取得的成功歸功於絕大多數具有高度誠信和良好價值觀的傑出人才，他們致力於為我們的玩家提供出色的遊戲，從而為股東帶來了豐厚的回報。這家公司及其許多領導人以及我們許多才華橫溢的員工，無論過去還是現在，都展現了堅定的意志力，致力於實現大膽的願望。我們致力於使動視暴雪成為世界上最受歡迎和最具包容性的公司，這將像我們實現行業領導地位一樣實現，專注於承諾、堅持、意志力、真正有才華的人堅定不移的雄心，同樣堅定不移的正直和持續致力於改進。

In September, we announced a comprehensive agreement with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, which is subject to court approval to strengthen policies and programs intended to further improve the prevention of harassment, discrimination and related content. And as part of this agreement, we'll establish an $18 million fund to compensate those who have experienced such behavior at our company.

9 月，我們宣布與美國平等機會委員會達成一項全面協議，該協議須經法院批准，以加強旨在進一步改善騷擾、歧視及相關內容預防的政策和計劃。作為該協議的一部分，我們將設立一個 1800 萬美元的基金來補償那些在我們公司經歷過此類行為的人。

With respect to pay equity, another critically important issue that we have always worked hard to ensure we achieve, we recently disclosed to employees the results of our review of 2020 pay equity at our company, which was conducted by an independent research firm. The U.S. analysis showed that women on average earned slightly more than men for comparable work in 2020. And we're committed to compensation remaining equitable for men and women performing comparable work always.

關於薪酬公平，我們一直努力確保實現的另一個至關重要的問題，我們最近向員工披露了由一家獨立研究公司對我們公司 2020 年薪酬公平進行的審查結果。美國的分析顯示，2020 年，從事類似工作的女性平均收入略高於男性。

Last week, we also announced a number of important new workplace initiatives. We announced a zero-tolerance harassment policy company-wide. This includes tougher rules and greater consistency across the organization to make certain reports are always properly and promptly handled. Now any Activision Blizzard employee found through our new investigative processes and resources to have retaliated against anyone for making a compliance complaint will be terminated immediately. In many other instances of workplace misconduct, we will no longer rely on written warnings. Terminations will be the outcome, including in most cases of harassment based on any legally protected category. Future employment contracts and equity awards will state that termination for these reasons will result in immediate forfeiture of future compensation.

上週，我們也宣布了一些重要的新工作場所措施。我們在全公司範圍內宣布了零容忍騷擾政策。這包括更嚴格的規則和整個組織更大的一致性，以確保某些報告始終得到正確、及時的處理。現在，任何透過我們新的調查流程和資源發現對提出合規投訴的人進行報復的動視暴雪員工將立即被解僱。在許多其他工作場所不當行為的情況下，我們將不再依賴書面警告。結果將是終止，包括大多數基於任何受法律保護類別的騷擾案件。未來的僱傭合約和股權獎勵將註明，因這些原因終止將導致立即沒收未來的補償。

Another is our pledge to increase the percentage of women and nonbinary people in our workforce by 50%. Today, approximately 23% of our global employee population identifies as women or nonbinary. So within the next 5 years and hopefully faster, we will seek to increase our percentage of women and nonbinary professionals to more than 1/3 across the entire company. To further this commitment, we'll be investing an additional $250 million over the next 10 years in initiatives that foster expanded opportunities in gaming and technology for underrepresented communities.

另一個是我們承諾將勞動力中女性和非二元性別人士的比例增加 50%。如今，我們全球員工中約有 23% 是女性或非二元性別。因此，在未來 5 年內，希望更快，我們將尋求將女性和非二元專業人士的比例提高到整個公司的 1/3 以上。為了進一步履行這項承諾，我們將在未來 10 年內追加投資 2.5 億美元，用於為弱勢群體創造更多遊戲和技術機會的舉措。

Additionally, based on feedback from many employees, we are waiving required arbitration of future individual sexual harassment and discrimination claim. That means for any employee who chooses not to arbitrate an individual claim of sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination or related retaliation arising in the future, the company will waive any obligation to do so.

此外，根據許多員工的回饋，我們將放棄對未來個人性騷擾和歧視索賠進行必要的仲裁。這意味著，對於任何選擇不對未來發生的性騷擾、非法歧視或相關報復的個人索賠進行仲裁的員工，公司將放棄這樣做的任何義務。

As we report regularly on our progress and our financial results, you will continue to hear more about our workplace initiatives which we firmly believe will help us remain one of the world's most successful entertainment company. I want to thank our employees for their continued commitment to each other, the company and our player. For those employees past and present who have been brave enough to step forward and share their stories, we continue to be committed to investigating all claims thoroughly and holding people accountable. For those employees who have shared feedback, thought, suggestion, concerns and complaint and there are many of you, we hope you can see from our actions that we are listening. We are evolving our organization through your ideas and active participation in their execution.

當我們定期報告我們的進展和財務業績時，您將繼續聽到更多有關我們工作場所舉措的信息，我們堅信這些舉措將幫助我們繼續成為世界上最成功的娛樂公司之一。我要感謝我們的員工對彼此、公司和我們球員的持續承諾。對於那些勇敢站出來分享自己故事的過去和現在的員工，我們將繼續致力於徹底調查所有索賠並追究人員責任。對於那些分享回饋、想法、建議、擔憂和投訴的員工，你們當中有很多人，我們希望你們能從我們的行動中看到我們正在傾聽。我們正在透過您的想法和積極參與其執行來發展我們的組織。

And for those employees who have worked tirelessly to deliver great experiences to our players, your resilience in these challenging times is inspiring. We expect that we'll continue to face challenging and negative media attention regardless of our progress, but we are determined to stay focused on providing great opportunities and the very best work environment for our talented employees to deliver the very best games for our players and to continue to provide superior returns for our shareholders. Thank you for your participation today.

對於那些孜孜不倦地努力為我們的玩家提供出色體驗的員工來說，你們在這個充滿挑戰的時期所表現出的韌性令人鼓舞。我們預計，無論我們取得怎樣的進步，我們都將繼續面臨媒體的挑戰和負面關注，但我們決心繼續專注於為我們的才華橫溢的員工提供絕佳的機會和最好的工作環境，為我們的玩家和玩家提供最好的遊戲。感謝您今天的參與。

And now I'll turn the call over to Daniel to share the results of our operations for the last quarter.

現在我將把電話轉給丹尼爾，分享我們上個季度的營運結果。

Thank you, Bobby. Before I discuss our operating results, I want to take this opportunity to thank our incredibly talented teams across the entire company who share the passion to make exciting and groundbreaking experiences for our players all around the world. Activision Blizzard's third quarter results were above our outlook. Our monthly active users and time spent in our content were consistent with the year ago level, even as regions continued to reopen, while net bookings and operating income grew year-over-year. This performance again illustrates the structural expansion in our largest franchises as we execute our strategy of delivering gaming experiences across new platforms with more regular content and leveraging multiple commercialization models including free-to-play.

謝謝你，鮑比。在討論我們的營運表現之前，我想藉此機會感謝整個公司才華橫溢的團隊，他們熱衷於為世界各地的玩家創造令人興奮和開創性的體驗。動視暴雪第三季業績高於我們的預期。即使各地區繼續重新開放，我們的每月活躍用戶和花在內容上的時間與去年同期水平一致，而淨預訂量和營業收入同比增長。這項業績再次說明了我們最大的特許經營權的結構性擴張，因為我們執行了透過新平台提供遊戲體驗、提供更多常規內容並利用包括免費遊戲在內的多種商業化模式的策略。

Execution against this strategy enables us to grow our community, including in geographies outside of our traditional regions, to deepen engagement and to create more opportunities for player investment. Critical to this is a continued investment in creative talent. We continued to grow our developer head count in the third quarter and have increased our development organization by hundreds of talented professionals year-to-date, including announcing new studios and expansions in multiple new cities globally. This geographic diversification strategy is paying dividends, allowing us to tap into critical talent pools in all corners of the world.

執行這項策略使我們能夠發展我們的社區（包括傳統地區以外的地區），加深參與度並為玩家投資創造更多機會。對此至關重要的是對創意人才的持續投資。我們在第三季度繼續增加開發者人數，並在今年迄今為止增加了數百名才華橫溢的專業人員，包括宣佈在全球多個新城市設立新工作室和擴張。這種地域多元化策略正在帶來紅利，使我們能夠利用世界各地的關鍵人才庫。

As we grow our teams with new hires, we are keenly aware of the importance and responsibility we have to ensure a safe working environment for our people. This is our #1 priority. Specifically, in recent months, we have taken actions that resulted in the departure of a number of individuals across the company. Additionally, we have seen increased competition in the market for our talent and higher voluntary turnover that has partly offset our success in hiring.

隨著新員工的加入，我們的團隊不斷壯大，我們敏銳地意識到確保員工安全的工作環境的重要性和責任。這是我們的第一要務。具體來說，近幾個月來，我們採取了一些行動，導致公司內一些人離職。此外，我們也看到市場對人才的競爭加劇，自願離職率上升，這在一定程度上抵消了我們在招募方面的成功。

As we have worked with new leadership in Blizzard and within the franchises themselves, particularly in certain key creative roles, it's become apparent that some of the Blizzard content plan for next year will benefit from more development time to reach its full potential. While we are still planning to deliver a substantial amount of content from Blizzard next year, we are now planning for a later launch for Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV than originally envisaged.

由於我們與暴雪和特許經營權內部的新領導層合作，特別是在某些關鍵創意角色中，很明顯，明年的一些暴雪內容計劃將受益於更多的開發時間，以充分發揮其潛力。雖然我們仍計劃明年提供暴雪的大量內容，但我們現在計劃比最初設想的更晚推出《鬥陣特攻 2》和《暗黑破壞神 IV》。

These are 2 of the most eagerly anticipated titles in the industry, and our teams have made great strides towards completion in recent quarters. But we believe giving the teams some extra time to complete production and continue growing their creative resources to support the titles after launch will ensure that these releases delight and engage their communities for many years into the future. These decisions will push out the financial uplift that we had expected to see next year. But we are confident that this is the right course of action for our people, our players and the long-term success of our franchises.

這是業界最受期待的兩款遊戲，我們的團隊在最近幾季在完成任務方面取得了長足的進步。但我們相信，給團隊一些額外的時間來完成製作，並在發布後繼續增加他們的創意資源來支持遊戲，將確保這些版本在未來的許多年裡能夠讓他們的社區感到高興和參與。這些決定將推動我們預計明年將看到的財務成長。但我們相信，這對我們的員工、球員以及我們球隊的長期成功來說是正確的行動方針。

Now I will cover our third quarter franchise and operational highlights across our business units. Starting with Activision, where, on average, 119 million people engage in our content monthly in the third quarter. Call of Duty continues to sustain reach, engagement and player investment well above levels seen prior to our introduction of free-to-play experiences across console, PC and mobile.

現在我將介紹我們第三季的特許經營權和各業務部門的營運亮點。從動視暴雪開始，第三季每月平均有 1.19 億人參與我們的內容。 《決勝時刻》的影響力、參與度和玩家投資繼續保持遠高於我們在主機、PC 和行動裝置上推出免費遊戲體驗之前的水平。

Monthly active users in the franchise were consistent year-over-year on console, PC and grew our mobile. Console and PC engagement trends were consistent with typical trends as we moved away from the premium launch even as regions continue to reopen through the quarter. Console and PC MAUs and time spent exhibited very similar retention from Q2 to Q3 as our experiences in prior years. In-game player investment on console and PC remained well above pre-Warzone levels at approximately 3x the level of Q3 2019. And strong conversion from free-to-play drove premium sales higher than in any third quarter prior the launch of Warzone.

該系列遊戲機、PC 和行動裝置上的每月活躍用戶數較去年同期保持穩定。主機和 PC 的參與趨勢與典型趨勢一致，因為我們不再推出高級版，儘管各地區在本季度繼續重新開放。從第二季度到第三季度，遊戲機和 PC 月活躍用戶數以及花費的時間與我們前幾年的經驗非常相似。遊戲機和PC 上的遊戲玩家投資仍遠高於《戰區》發布前的水平，約為2019 年第三季水平的3 倍。任何第三季的水平。

And our teams are all set to launch the next phase of exciting new Call of Duty content for players worldwide. This Friday sees the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard. And on December 2, we will roll out Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific, the biggest update to the Warzone experience since launch. As we've demonstrated with Modern Warfare and Black Ops: Cold War, the release of Vanguard is just the first step in delivering the community an incredible amount of ongoing content, live engagement and much more.

我們的團隊已準備好為全球玩家推出下一階段令人興奮的新《決勝時刻》內容。本週五，《決勝時刻：先鋒》發布。 12 月 2 日，我們將推出《決勝時刻：太平洋戰區》，這是自發布以來《戰區》體驗的最大更新。正如我們在《現代戰爭》和《黑色行動：冷戰》中所展示的那樣，《先鋒》的發布只是向社區提供大量持續內容、即時參與等的第一步。

Across campaign, zombies, multiplayer and War Zone, there's no bigger experience or better value over the duration of the game's life cycle across our premium and free-to-play business. And then we expect Warzone Pacific and its new Caldera map to take the free-to-play experience to another level. The premium and free-to-play experiences are more integrated than ever before sharing the same engine, weapon integration and content integration as well as Call of Duty standards of cross-play, cross-progression and more. Both titles are set to benefit from RICOCHET, a new anti-cheat technology aimed at addressing one of the key improvements requested by the community. We are confident that our players are in store for an incredible set of experiences this holiday season and beyond.

在戰役、殭屍、多人遊戲和戰區中，在我們的付費和免費遊戲業務的整個遊戲生命週期中，沒有比這更出色的體驗或更好的價值了。然後我們預計《太平洋戰區》及其新的火山口地圖將免費遊戲體驗提升到另一個層次。優質的免費遊戲體驗比以往任何時候都更加集成，共享相同的引擎、武器集成和內容集成以及交叉遊戲、交叉進程等的《決勝時刻》標準。這兩款遊戲都將受益於 RICOCHET，這是一種新的反作弊技術，旨在解決社區要求的關鍵改進之一。我們相信，我們的玩家將在這個假期及以後獲得一系列令人難以置信的體驗。

On mobile, Call of Duty net bookings grew over 40% year-over-year in the third quarter driven by double-digit growth in the West and a continued contribution from the game in China. The team continues to refine the player experience, building on learnings from the title's first 2 years to optimize content, events and features for our communities around the world. And at the same time, we continue to ramp our teams working on new mobile title within the Call of Duty universe. In addition to hiring a substantial number of developers over the last quarter, we are pleased to announce last week the acquisition of Digital Legends, a Barcelona-based mobile game developer that will further bolster the world-class team we are assembling.

在行動端，受西方兩位數成長和中國遊戲持續貢獻的推動，《決勝時刻》第三季淨預訂量年增超過 40%。團隊持續完善玩家體驗，並借鑒前兩年的經驗教訓，為世界各地的社群優化內容、活動和功能。同時，我們繼續壯大我們的團隊，在《決勝時刻》宇宙中開發新的行動遊戲。除了在上個季度聘用大量開發人員之外，我們上週還很高興地宣布收購了位於巴塞隆納的行動遊戲開發商 Digital Legends，這將進一步增強我們正在組建的世界級團隊。

Turning to Blizzard. Monthly active users were 26 million in the third quarter. For Diablo, our plan to deliver an era of unprecedented levels of content for the franchise has experienced a strong start with the September release of Diablo II: Resurrected, the return of one of the most acclaimed titles in PC gaming history. First week of sales of the title were the highest recorded for a remaster from our company, and we have seen strong ongoing demand, particularly in Korea, where the game is proving one of the most popular titles in Internet game rooms.

轉向暴雪。第三季每月活躍用戶為 2,600 萬。對於《暗黑破壞神》來說，我們為該系列帶來前所未有的內容水平的計劃已經在9 月發布的《暗黑破壞神II：復活》中取得了良好的開端，這是PC 遊戲歷史上最受好評的遊戲之一的回歸。該遊戲的首周銷量創下了我們公司重製版的最高記錄，並且我們看到了強勁的持續需求，特別是在韓國，事實證明該遊戲是互聯網遊戲室中最受歡迎的遊戲之一。

With such strong engagement, the team is now working hard to ensure that players have the smoothest possible experience as they explore the world of Sanctuary. This is just the first step in Blizzard's plans for the franchise. On mobile, Diablo Immortal is in public testing and remains on track for release in the first half of next year. And with Diablo IV set to be the foundation for great experiences for PC and console fans over many years, we believe the pieces are in place to expand and serve the Diablo community better than ever before.

有瞭如此強烈的參與，團隊現在正在努力確保玩家在探索庇護所世界時擁有最流暢的體驗。這只是暴雪特許經營計劃的第一步。在行動裝置上，《暗黑破壞神：不朽》正在進行公開測試，預計明年上半年發布。多年來，《暗黑破壞神 IV》將成為 PC 和遊戲機粉絲的絕佳體驗的基礎，我們相信這些部分已經到位，可以比以往更好地擴展和服務暗黑破壞神社區。

Turning to Overwatch, where millions of people continue to engage in both the game and esport. September saw the grand finals of the Overwatch League become the most watched in the league's history. Starting in the spring, the next season of Overwatch League will run on an early build of Overwatch 2's new 5v5 competitive multiplayer mode, giving the community a fantastic view into the development team's strong work on the next iteration in the franchise. And the team plans to follow this with new content and initiatives to engage existing, returning and new Overwatch players next year.

轉向《鬥陣特攻》，數百萬人繼續參與遊戲和電競。九月，《鬥陣特攻》總決賽成為聯盟史上收視率最高的賽事。從春季開始，《鬥陣特攻》下一賽季將在《鬥陣特攻2》全新5v5 多人競技模式的早期版本上運行，讓社群能夠深入了解開發團隊在該系列下一個迭代中所做的出色工作。團隊計劃在明年推出新的內容和舉措來吸引現有的、回歸的和新的《鬥陣特攻》玩家。

Within the Warcraft franchise, World of Warcraft reach and engagement continues to benefit from the combination of the Modern game and Classic under a single subscription. The 2 games offer players more ways to engage and create more opportunities for our teams to deliver compelling experiences to fans of the franchise. With deep engagement across both Classic and Modern, WoW's overall subscriber base is stronger than we typically see at this point after a Modern expansion launch. And for 2021, World of Warcraft is on track to deliver its strongest engagement and net bookings outside of a Modern expansion year in a decade.

在《魔獸爭霸》系列中，《魔獸世界》的影響力和參與度繼續受益於單一訂閱下現代遊戲和經典遊戲的結合。這兩款遊戲為玩家提供了更多參與方式，並為我們的團隊創造更多機會，為該系列的粉絲提供引人入勝的體驗。憑藉經典版和現代版的深入參與，《魔獸世界》的整體用戶基礎比我們在現代版擴充包推出後通常看到的要強大。 2021 年，《魔獸世界》有望實現近代資料片十年來最強勁的參與度和淨預訂量。

Our WoW team has been rolling out numerous quality of life improvement across the Modern and Classic games franchise in response to player feedback. And today, the Modern game released its latest content update with Classic soon to launch fresh servers, with greater challenges to engage the passionate community.

為了回應玩家的回饋，我們的《魔獸世界》團隊在現代和經典遊戲系列中推出了大量的生活品質改進措施。今天，現代遊戲發布了最新的內容更新，經典遊戲即將推出新的伺服器，為吸引熱情的社群帶來更大的挑戰。

Hearthstone net bookings were stable year-over-year in the third quarter. And in October, the team launched Mercenaries, an innovative role-playing mode that gives the Hearthstone community an entirely new way to play the game. Initial results for Mercenaries have been very encouraging, and we believe Hearthstone is positioned for a return to year-over-year growth in net bookings in the fourth quarter.

《爐石戰記》第三季淨預訂量較去年同期穩定。十月份，該團隊推出了“僱傭兵”，這是一種創新的角色扮演模式，為《爐石戰記》社群提供了一種全新的遊戲方式。 《僱傭兵》的初步業績非常令人鼓舞，我們相信《爐石戰記》預計在第四季恢復淨預訂量年增。

Across the Warcraft franchise, our teams are working on a substantial pipeline of content planned for next year, including new experiences in Classic and Modern WoW, more innovations in Hearthstone and getting all new mobile Warcraft content into players hands for the first time. Blizzard cannot wait to share more details on their plans.

在《魔獸爭霸》系列中，我們的團隊正在計劃明年推出大量內容，包括經典和現代《魔獸世界》的新體驗、《爐石戰記》的更多創新以及首次將所有新的移動《魔獸爭霸》內容交到玩家手中。暴雪迫不及待地想分享他們計劃的更多細節。

The King business continues to deliver fantastic results with very strong year-over-year trends for both in-app purchases and advertising. MAUs were 245 million in the third quarter. King's deep capabilities in live operations are driving engagement for both existing and new players. Hours played across the King portfolio grew year-over-year in the third quarter, with players responding positively to a more frequent cadence of compelling in-game content and events for key titles. The team's prior actions to grow payer conversion alongside ongoing strong execution in user acquisition saw payer numbers growing by double-digit percentage versus the year ago quarter.

King 業務持續取得出色的業績，應用程式內購買和廣告的年比趨勢非常強勁。第三季每月活躍用戶數為 2.45 億。 King 在現場運作方面的深厚能力正在推動現有玩家和新玩家的參與。第三季度，《King》系列的遊戲時長同比增長，玩家對關鍵遊戲中引人注目的遊戲內內容和活動的頻繁出現做出了積極的反應。該團隊先前採取的提高付款人轉換率的行動以及在用戶獲取方面持續強勁的執行力使付款人數量與去年同期相比增長了兩位數。

These initiatives drove over 20% year-over-year growth in in-game net bookings for Candy Crush with Candy once again the top grossing game franchise in the U.S. app stores. Additionally, at the end of the third quarter, King launched the All Stars U.S. tournament, a competitive event that saw Candy Crush Saga players battle to be crowned the ultimate Candy Crush All Star. The event has driven meaningful increases in installs, game rounds played and in-app purchases in recent weeks, highlighting competitive gameplay as another opportunity for franchise growth and our investment in the Candy Crush brand.

這些舉措推動《Candy Crush》的遊戲內淨預訂量年增超過 20%，《Candy》再次成為美國應用程式商店最暢銷的遊戲系列。此外，在第三季末，King 推出了全明星美國錦標賽，這是一項競爭性賽事，《Candy Crush Saga》玩家將爭奪最終的 Candy Crush 全明星桂冠。最近幾週，該活動推動了安裝量、遊戲回合數和應用程式內購買量的大幅成長，凸顯了競爭性遊戲玩法是特許經營成長和我們對 Candy Crush 品牌投資的另一個機會。

In addition to this innovation and success at Candy, for several quarters now, King has been accelerating and refining content delivery in Farm Heroes, its second largest franchise. This work continued to bear fruit in Q3 and year-to-date in-game net bookings have grown around 20% year-over-year. And finally, King's advertising business again grew robustly, with quarterly revenue growing sequentially and year-over-year to a new high. Both volume and pricing grew strongly year-over-year, benefiting from the team's growing relationships with demand partners and the ongoing ramp of new categories of advertisers.

除了 Candy 的創新和成功之外，幾個季度以來，King 也一直在加速和完善其第二大系列《農場英雄》的內容交付。這項工作在第三季繼續取得成果，年初至今遊戲內淨預訂量年增約 20%。最後，King的廣告業務再次強勁成長，季度營收較上季和年成長均創新高。由於團隊與需求合作夥伴日益密切的關係以及新類別廣告商的持續成長，銷售量和價格較去年同期強勁成長。

In summary, Q3 saw solid year-over-year growth in the business, and we see substantial growth ahead for our portfolio of internally owned IP. While we have seen some slippage in the release schedule for specific titles at Blizzard, we could not be more excited about our plans to unlock the full potential of our largest franchises and to drive meaningful expansion in our reach, engagement and operating performance. This is only possible because of our teams.

總而言之，第三季業務較去年同期穩健成長，我們預計我們的內部智慧財產權組合未來將大幅成長。雖然我們發現暴雪特定遊戲的發佈時間表有所延遲，但我們對釋放我們最大的特許經營權的全部潛力並推動我們的影響力、參與度和運營績效的有意義的擴張的計劃感到無比興奮。這只有我們的團隊才有可能實現。

I want to share an announcement about the leadership of one of those team. Jen Oneal, who has been co-lead of Blizzard, has been a passionate advocate for bringing positive changes to the video gaming industry and has been doing so as Board member of Women in Gaming International (sic) [Women in Games International], or WIGI, a nonprofit organization that cultivate and advances equality and diversity in the global games industry. Jen has decided to leave the company at the end of the year, and we have agreed to support Jen in her involvement with WIGI by making a donation to WIGI in honor of Jen. In her remaining months with the company, given her commitment to this work, Jen will build the foundation of programs funded by the grant. As such, Mike Ybarra will take on Jen's leadership responsibility. It is great to see how employees at our company are committed to bring about the positive changes in our industry and beyond, and our leadership team stands behind these effort.

我想分享一份關於其中一個團隊的領導的公告。 Jen Oneal 是暴雪的聯合領導者，一直熱衷於為電玩產業帶來積極的變革，並一直擔任 Women in Gaming International (sic) [Women in Games International] 的董事會成員，或者WIGI 是非營利組織，致力於培育和促進全球遊戲產業的平等和多樣性。 Jen 決定在年底離開公司，我們同意向 WIGI 捐款以紀念 Jen，以支持 Jen 參與 WIGI。在她在公司剩下的幾個月裡，鑑於她對這項工作的承諾，珍將為這筆由贈款資助的計畫奠定基礎。因此，Mike Ybarra 將承擔 Jen 的領導責任。很高興看到我們公司的員工如何致力於為我們的行業及其他行業帶來積極的變化，並且我們的領導團隊支持這些努力。

Now I will hand over to Armin, who will provide more color on our financial result and outlook, Armin?

現在我將把工作交給阿明，他將為我們的財務業績和前景提供更多信息，阿明？

Thanks, Daniel. First, I'd like to reiterate that ensuring a workplace that provides opportunity for all in the most welcoming and inclusive way is our top priority. Today, I'll review our third quarter results as well as outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2021. Our third quarter results were ahead of our prior outlook, with year-over-year growth in net bookings, revenue, operating income and EPS against difficult year ago comparables.

謝謝，丹尼爾。首先，我想重申，確保工作場所以最熱情和包容的方式為所有人提供機會是我們的首要任務。今天，我將回顧我們的第三季業績以及第四季和 2021 年全年的展望。收益與去年同期的可比較數據相比。

Importantly, each of these metrics has also grown year-over-year on a year-to-date basis. So even as regions continues to reopen, our business is operating at significantly greater scale than that seen prior to our successful growth initiatives across our largest franchises. Let me start with our consolidated financial results. Unless otherwise indicated, I'll be referencing non-GAAP figures. Please refer to our earnings release for full GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation.

重要的是，從年初至今，這些指標中的每一個都逐年成長。因此，即使各地區繼續重新開放，我們的業務營運規模也比我們最大的特許經營店成功實施成長計畫之前的規模要大得多。讓我從我們的綜合財務表現開始。除非另有說明，否則我將引用非公認會計原則數據。請參閱我們的收益發布，以了解完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表。

Now for the quarter, we generated quarter 3 GAAP revenues of $2.07 billion, $100 million above our August outlook. This includes net recognition of deferrals of $190 million. Net bookings of $1.88 billion, that’s $30 million above our August outlook. And we generated quarter 3 GAAP EPS of $0.82 and quarter 3 non-GAAP EPS of $0.89 which was $0.14 above our guidance. These figures include the net recognition of deferrals of $0.17. Quarter 3 EPS included $0.03 [churn] from an unrealized loss on investment as well as a benefit from a lower-than-anticipated tax rate in the quarter.

現在，就本季而言，我們第三季的 GAAP 收入為 20.7 億美元，比我們 8 月的預期高出 1 億美元。其中包括 1.9 億美元的遞延淨確認。淨預訂量為 18.8 億美元，比我們 8 月的預期高出 3,000 萬美元。我們的第三季 GAAP 每股收益為 0.82 美元，第三季非 GAAP 每股收益為 0.89 美元，比我們的指導值高出 0.14 美元。這些數字包括 0.17 美元的遞延淨確認。第三季每股收益包括未實現投資損失帶來的 0.03 美元[流失]，以及本季低於預期的稅率帶來的收益。

Now turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Quarter 3 operating cash flow was $521 million, more than double the year ago level, driven by lower cash taxes and favorable working capital movements. Our cash and investments at the end of September were approximately $10 billion, and we ended the quarter with a net cash position of approximately $6.4 billion. Growing shareholder value through capital allocation is a key focus for us. And over the long term, investors should expect a balanced approach across investing in creative talent in our own business, strategic M&A and returning cash to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends.

現在轉向現金流和資產負債表。第三季營運現金流為 5.21 億美元，是去年同期水準的兩倍多，這得益於較低的現金稅和有利的營運資本流動。截至 9 月底，我們的現金和投資約為 100 億美元，本季末我們的淨現金部位約為 64 億美元。透過資本配置增加股東價值是我們的重點。從長遠來看，投資者應該期待在我們自己的業務中投資創意人才、策略併購以及透過股票回購和股息向股東返還現金方面採取平衡的方法。

Now let me turn to our segment results. Activision revenue was $641 million. Segment revenue was lower year-over-year as expected in our outlook. This was due to the launch of Tony Hawk's in the year ago quarter and declines in Call of Duty upfront and in-game net bookings against a quarter that benefited from shelter-at-home mandates and the early ramp of Warzone. Year-to-date, net bookings for the Activision segment and the Call of Duty franchise were higher year-over-year with the franchise now consistently operating at greater scale than before our free-to-play and mobile initiatives. Activision's third quarter operating income was $244 million and operating margin was 38%.

現在讓我談談我們的部門結果。動視收入為 6.41 億美元。正如我們展望中的預期，該部門收入較去年同期下降。這是由於《托尼霍克》在去年同期的推出，以及《決勝時刻》的前期預訂量和遊戲內淨預訂量的下降，而這一季度得益於居家令和《戰區》的早期增長。年初至今，動視部門和《決勝時刻》系列的淨預訂量年增，該系列遊戲目前的營運規模一直比我們推出免費遊戲和行動遊戲之前更大。動視第三季營業收入為2.44億美元，營業利益率為38%。

Blizzard revenue of $493 million grew 20% year-over-year driven by the successful launch of Diablo II: Resurrected. Year-to-date, net bookings for Blizzard and for World of Warcraft, its largest franchise, were higher year-over-year. Blizzard's third quarter operating income was $188 million with an operating margin of 38%.

得益於《暗黑破壞神 II：復活》的成功推出，暴雪收入達到 4.93 億美元，較去年同期成長 20%。今年迄今為止，暴雪及其最大的遊戲《魔獸世界》的淨預訂量同比增長。暴雪第三季營業收入為1.88億美元，營業利益率為38%。

King delivered another record quarter. Revenue grew 22% year-over-year to $652 million. That's a new high. Third quarter in-game net bookings grew in the mid-teens year-over-year while advertising grew approximately 60%. King's third quarter operating income was a record $303 million with an operating margin of 46%. The team's strong execution across live operations, marketing and advertising drove records for both revenue and operating income for the third quarter and year-to-date. King's ability to delight and engage players with robust live operation provides a lot of learning that we’re trying to apply to both Activision and Blizzard and not just in mobile.

King 季度業績再創新高。營收年增 22% 至 6.52 億美元。這是一個新高。第三季遊戲內淨預訂量較去年同期成長 15%左右，而廣告成長約 60%。 King 第三季營業收入達到創紀錄的 3.03 億美元，營業利益率為 46%。該團隊在現場營運、行銷和廣告方面的強大執行力推動了第三季和年初至今的收入和營運收入記錄。 King 透過強大的即時操作來取悅和吸引玩家的能力為我們提供了大量的學習經驗，我們正在嘗試將其應用於動視和暴雪，而不僅僅是移動領域。

Looking across our segments, in-game net bookings were $1.2 billion, roughly flat year-over-year and approximately $500 million higher than the level of quarter 3 of 2019. And during the third quarter, mobile net bookings grew over 20% year-over-year driven by the strength of both Activision and King. Consumer spending and advertising within our mobile content was almost $1 billion in the quarter. And we see substantial room for further growth as we take each of our key franchises to the largest and fastest-growing platform, leveraging our creative and live operation capabilities of Activision, Blizzard and King.

綜觀我們的細分市場，遊戲內淨預訂額為12 億美元，與去年同期基本持平，但比2019 年第三季的水平高出約5 億美元。超過20%受動視和 King 實力的推動。本季度，我們行動內容中的消費者支出和廣告支出接近 10 億美元。我們看到了進一步成長的巨大空間，因為我們將我們的每個主要特許經營權帶到最大和增長最快的平台，利用我們動視、暴雪和 King 的創意和實時運營能力。

Now let me turn to our outlook for the fourth quarter and the full year. With regard to our slate, in addition to ongoing live op and in-game content across the portfolio, the fourth quarter will see Activision release Call of Duty: Vanguard this Friday, November 5, followed by the biggest Warzone update yet, Warzone Pacific, on December 2. Blizzard launched a new Mercenaries mode in Hearthstone in mid-October and will release the next Hearthstone expansion later this quarter. And King continues to support Candy Crush and other games across its portfolio with numerous seasonal events and new features.

現在讓我談談我們對第四季和全年的展望。就我們的名單而言，除了整個產品組合中正在進行的即時操作和遊戲內內容外，動視將於第四季度於本週五（即11 月5 日）發布《決勝時刻：先鋒》，隨後將發布迄今為止最大的《戰區》更新《太平洋戰區》， 12 月2 日，暴雪於10 月中旬在《爐石戰記》中推出了新的傭兵模式，並將在本季度晚些時候發布下一個《爐石戰記》擴充包。 King 繼續透過眾多季節性活動和新功能支援《Candy Crush》和其產品組合中的其他遊戲。

Our team has done a phenomenal job building this content, even if many of them continue to work from home, and we can't wait for our players to get their hands on this experience. With that said, we remain prudent in our revenue assumption for the fourth quarter. And regarding costs, we have decided to further step up investment in mobile marketing given the strong returns we are currently seeing and into compliance and employee relation. We expect the earnings impact of these investments to be offset by lower tax rate, and we continue to expect full year earnings per share to be up strongly year-over-year and comfortably ahead of the outlook provided at the beginning of the year.

我們的團隊在建立這些內容方面做得非常出色，即使他們中的許多人繼續在家工作，我們迫不及待地想讓我們的玩家獲得這種體驗。話雖如此，我們對第四季的收入假設仍然保持謹慎。在成本方面，鑑於我們目前看到的強勁回報以及合規性和員工關係，我們決定進一步增加對行動行銷的投資。我們預計這些投資對盈利的影響將被較低的稅率所抵消，並且我們繼續預計全年每股收益將同比強勁增長，並輕鬆領先於年初提供的前景。

Now let me get into the specifics. For quarter 4, on a GAAP basis, we expect revenues of $2.02 billion, including net deferrals of $763 million. We expect net bookings of $2.78 billion. We expect GAAP operating margin of 30%, a tax rate of 26%, GAAP and non-GAAP share count of 785 million and EPS of $0.54. For quarter 4 on a non-GAAP basis, we expect a tax rate of 25% and non-GAAP EPS of $0.62, including net deferrals of $0.67. This means that on a GAAP basis for 2021, we now expect revenues of $8.66 billion, including the net recognition of deferrals of $10 million. We now expect net bookings of $8.65 billion. We expect GAAP operating margin of 37%, a GAAP tax rate of 18%; GAAP and non-GAAP share count of 784 million and GAAP EPS of $3.27. For 2021, on a non-GAAP basis, we expect a tax rate of 17% and non-GAAP EPS of $3.70 including net deferrals of $0.06.

現在讓我詳細介紹一下。根據 GAAP 基準，我們預計第四季的營收為 20.2 億美元，其中包括 7.63 億美元的淨遞延收入。我們預計淨預訂額為 27.8 億美元。我們預期 GAAP 營業利潤率為 30%，稅率為 26%，GAAP 和非 GAAP 股票數量為 7.85 億股，每股盈餘為 0.54 美元。根據非 GAAP 基準，我們預計第 4 季的稅率為 25%，非 GAAP 每股盈餘為 0.62 美元，包括 0.67 美元的淨遞延。這意味著，在 2021 年 GAAP 基礎上，我們目前預計收入為 86.6 億美元，其中包括 1,000 萬美元的遞延淨確認。我們現在預計淨預訂額為 86.5 億美元。我們預期 GAAP 營業利益率為 37%，GAAP 稅率為 18%； GAAP 和非 GAAP 股票數量為 7.84 億股，GAAP 每股盈餘為 3.27 美元。 2021 年，在非 GAAP 基礎上，我們預計稅率為 17%，非 GAAP 每股收益為 3.70 美元，包括 0.06 美元的淨遞延。

With respect to risk, as you've heard, we're taking action to address stakeholder concern and the adverse consequences to our business from workplace issues. If we experience further adverse publicity regarding our company and executive, increased competition for talent, higher voluntary turnover, significantly reduced productivity or other negative consequences relating to these issues, our business likely would be adversely impacted. We're, therefore, carefully monitoring all aspects of our business by any such impacts, and we're taking action to help address them.

關於風險，正如您所聽說的，我們正在採取行動來解決利害關係人的擔憂以及工作場所問題對我們業務造成的不利後果。如果我們的公司和高階主管受到進一步的負面宣傳、人才競爭加劇、自願離職率上升、生產力顯著下降或與這些問題相關的其他負面後果，我們的業務可能會受到不利影響。因此，我們正在仔細監控我們業務的各個方面是否受到此類影響，並正在採取行動來幫助解決這些問題。

Now I'd also like to provide some update on how we are planning for next year specifically. As a starting point, our business continues to operate at much greater scale, and we have clear line of sight to expanding the reach, engagement and financial performance of our business further in the coming years as we apply the framework that has worked so well for Call of Duty, Candy Crush to other franchises in our portfolio.

現在我還想提供一些有關我們明年具體計劃的最新資訊。作為起點，我們的業務繼續以更大的規模運營，並且我們有明確的目標，在未來幾年進一步擴大我們業務的覆蓋範圍、參與度和財務業績，因為我們應用了一直以來運作良好的框架。 《決勝時刻》、《糖果粉碎傳奇》以及我們產品組合中的其他特許經營遊戲。

At the same time, as Daniel described, we've taken the decision to give the Overwatch and Diablo team the extra time they need to deliver the experiences that their communities deserve and to set the franchises up for maximum success over a multiyear period. We are, therefore, currently not planning for material contribution from Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV in 2022. While this development will push out the financial uplift that we have expected to see next year, we firmly believe that this is the right course of action for our people, for the long-term success of these franchises and for our shareholders. We still have a lot of content in the pipeline for next year for our largest franchises that we can't wait to unveil and we'll provide more color on that when we provide our full year outlook in early February.

同時，正如丹尼爾所描述的，我們決定給予《鬥陣特攻》和《暗黑破壞神》團隊所需的額外時間，以提供他們的社區應得的體驗，並讓特許經營權在多年的時間內取得最大的成功。因此，我們目前沒有計劃在2022 年從《鬥陣特攻2》和《暗黑破壞神IV》中獲得實質貢獻。的行動方針我們的員工，為了這些特許經營權和我們的股東的長期成功。對於明年我們最大的特許經營權，我們仍然有很多內容正在醞釀中，我們迫不及待地想揭曉，當我們在二月初提供全年展望時，我們將提供更多的內容。

In conclusion, we see substantial opportunity for shareholder value creation ahead to unlocking the full potential of our portfolio. This will only be possible because of our people, and we'll remain focused on ensuring a safe working environment that is essential to enable creativity and professional growth for all employees.

總之，我們認為未來有大量創造股東價值的機會，可以釋放我們投資組合的全部潛力。只有我們的員工才能實現這一目標，我們將繼續致力於確保安全的工作環境，這對於所有員工的創造力和職業發展至關重要。

Now I ask Rob, Mike and Humam to join Bobby, Daniel and myself to answer your questions. Operator?

現在我請 Rob、Mike 和 Humam 與 Bobby、Daniel 和我一起回答你們的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Matthew Thornton of Truist Securities.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Truist Securities 的 Matthew Thornton。

Maybe one just to come back on some of the workplace issues that the team has talked about. Can you talk a little more about just the progress around rectifying some of these issues? How we can think about the milestones and the time line towards being resolved and being best-in-class? And how you plan to kind of communicate that progress along the way? Any more color there would be really appreciated.

也許只是為了回顧團隊討論過的一些工作場所問題。您能多談談糾正其中一些問題的進展嗎？我們如何考慮解決問題並成為一流的里程碑和時間表？您打算如何傳達這項進展？如果有更多顏色，我們將不勝感激。

Yes. Thanks, Matt. This is Bobby. I feel very good about the progress actually. Right now, workplace leadership is my focus. Our opportunities for growth, as we've talked about, have never been better, but we won't be able to realize all that growth potential without talent. And to retain and attract the talent we need, we obviously have to be recognized as the very best place to work. This means we have to be the most welcoming inclusive environment and we've got to have the best industry-leading programs for growth and development. We've got to have the best recruiting capabilities for the diverse talent we need to create the very best games, and we have to have competitive compensation that is aligned with performance.

是的。謝謝，馬特。這是鮑比。事實上，我對進展感到非常滿意。現在，工作場所領導力是我的重點。正如我們所談到的，我們的成長機會從未如此好，但如果沒有人才，我們將無法實現所有成長潛力。為了留住和吸引我們需要的人才，我們顯然必須被公認為最好的工作場所。這意味著我們必須成為最受歡迎的包容性環境，我們必須擁有最好的行業領先計劃來促進成長和發展。我們必須擁有最好的招募能力來招募創造最好的遊戲所需的多元化人才，並且我們必須擁有與績效相符的有競爭力的薪酬。

If you think about it, over the last 30 years, we've shown that we can consistently create the very best games, and that has always translated into long-term shareholder returns that are far greater than the S&P 500 and compared to most companies. And we believe that superior shareholder returns will continue to be delivered through our franchise strategies, the operational excellence that we're recognized for. And we also recognize that to achieve the same level of shareholder returns we have historically and to ensure continued excellence in execution, we believe we and all great companies need to deliver workplace excellence.

如果你想一想，在過去 30 年裡，我們已經證明我們能夠持續創造出最好的遊戲，而這始終會轉化為遠高於標準普爾 500 指數和大多數公司的長期股東回報。我們相信，透過我們的特許經營策略和我們廣受認可的卓越運營，將繼續為股東帶來卓越的回報。我們也認識到，為了實現與歷史相同水準的股東回報並確保持續卓越的執行力，我們相信我們和所有偉大的公司都需要提供卓越的工作場所。

This means some of the things that we've discussed over the last few weeks about harassment and discrimination-free work environments, recruiting excellence to ensure we have diverse skills, abilities and talents and a culture that celebrates and rewards commitment to these principles. I couldn't be more passionate and committed to being the most performance-focused, welcoming and inclusive company in entertainment. What you heard me discuss earlier is just the beginning of the actions that we intend to take to achieve that objective. And of course, we need accountability. So we'll continue to provide regular progress in updates both quarterly to our shareholders as well as annually in our ESG reports, and we'll be monitoring the progress of our business units, our franchise teams and our functional leaders with respect to workplace initiatives, and that status will also be reported to our employees quarterly.

這意味著我們過去幾週討論的一些事情，包括無騷擾和歧視的工作環境、招募優秀人才以確保我們擁有多樣化的技能、能力和才能，以及慶祝和獎勵對這些原則的承諾的文化。我無比熱情，致力於成為娛樂界最注重績效、最熱情、最包容的公司。你剛才聽到我討論的只是我們為實現這一目標而打算採取的行動的開始。當然，我們需要問責制。因此，我們將繼續每季以及每年在 ESG 報告中定期向股東提供更新進度情況，並且我們將監控我們的業務部門、特許經營團隊和職能領導者在工作場所舉措方面的進展情況，並且該狀態還將每季報告給我們的員工。

Right now and going forward, communicating with our employees and getting feedback has been a crucial part of the process. We'll obviously continue to keep our investors informed, but the work that we've done with our employees has resulted in very constructive new initiatives, more that we'll continue to announce over the next few months. But the long answer to your question is I feel good about the progress that we're making. But thanks for the question.

現在和未來，與我們的員工溝通並獲取回饋一直是這個過程的關鍵部分。顯然，我們將繼續向投資者通報情況，但我們與員工所做的工作已經產生了非常有建設性的新舉措，我們將在接下來的幾個月中繼續宣布更多舉措。但對你的問題的長篇回答是我對我們正在取得的進展感到滿意。但謝謝你的提問。

The next question comes from Mike Hickey of The Benchmark Company.

下一個問題來自 Benchmark 公司的 Mike Hickey。

Bobby and team, congrats on the quarter. Just 2, can you give us some more color here on the reason for the slip in Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. Can you give us a sense of how long we're going to have to wait?

鮑比和團隊，恭喜這個季度。 2.您能給我們更多關於《鬥陣特攻 2》和《暗黑破壞神 IV》中失敗的原因嗎？您能否告訴我們我們需要等待多久？

This is Mike Ybarra. Thanks for the question. I'd like to first recognize Jen Oneal, who has been an incredible partner here at Blizzard. Though we will all miss her greatly, we wish her all the best as we work with her on a plan to make an industry-wide impact through the WIGI grant. I personally want to thank her for her leadership.

這是麥克·伊巴拉。謝謝你的提問。我首先要感謝 Jen Oneal，她是暴雪的一位出色的合作夥伴。儘管我們都會非常想念她，但我們祝她一切順利，因為我們與她一起制定計劃，並透過 WIGI 資助對整個行業產生影響。我個人要感謝她的領導。

Since becoming the co-leader of Blizzard 3 months ago and meeting with teams around the company, I have been impressed by their passion for what they are creating and their drive to build a more inclusive culture. Looking at our upcoming releases across all of our teams here at Blizzard, we have a deep bench of veteran development talent, and we have new leadership on both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. Both are seasoned Blizzard developers with over 30 years’ experience at the company between them. The teams have made great progress and passed important milestones recently, and we expect these to be fantastic releases. But there's obviously been a change in leadership.

自從三個月前成為暴雪的聯合領導者並與公司各地的團隊會面以來，他們對自己所創造的事物的熱情以及他們建立更具包容性文化的動力給我留下了深刻的印象。縱觀暴雪所有團隊即將發布的版本，我們擁有一群經驗豐富的開發人才，並且在《鬥陣特攻 2》和《暗黑破壞神 IV》方面都有新的領導階層。兩人都是經驗豐富的暴雪開發人員，在公司擁有超過 30 年的經驗。這些團隊最近取得了巨大的進步並通過了重要的里程碑，我們預計這些將是出色的版本。但領導層顯然發生了變化。

We looked at what was left in the final phases of production with fresh eyes, and we saw that allowing the teams more time would enable both great experiences at launch and also help ensure that everything will be in place to engage the communities for many years to come. This extra time will also help us continue significantly increasing the size of our development teams ahead of the launch, again to ensure we are following up the releases with substantial content to continue delighting the community. We're not sharing release dates at this time, but I have absolute confidence in these new leaders and their teams to deliver. They care deeply about creating high-quality products and allowing everyone on their teams to bring their best selves to their projects. Thanks for the question.

我們以全新的眼光審視了製作最後階段剩下的內容，我們發現，給團隊更多的時間不僅可以在發佈時提供出色的體驗，還有助於確保一切準備就緒，讓社區能夠多年來參與其中來。這段額外的時間也將幫助我們在發布之前繼續大幅增加開發團隊的規模，再次確保我們以大量內容跟進發布，以繼續取悅社群。我們目前不透露發布日期，但我對這些新領導者及其團隊的交付絕對有信心。他們非常關心創造高品質的產品，並讓團隊中的每個人都能在專案中發揮最好的自己。謝謝你的提問。

The next question comes from Clay Griffin of MoffetNathanson.

下一個問題來自 MoffetNathanson 的 Clay Griffin。

King was clearly a bright spot this quarter. I'm curious if you could maybe drill down on some of the fundamental drivers that we've seen, particularly from an in-app net bookings growth perspective. I know you mentioned the frequency of content and seasonal content, whatnot. But we'd love to hear any color on player demographics or cohort analysis to help us get a sense of some of the trends here.

King 顯然是本季的亮點。我很好奇您是否可以深入研究我們所看到的一些基本驅動因素，特別是從應用程式內淨預訂成長的角度來看。我知道您提到了內容的頻率和季節性內容等等。但我們很樂意聽到有關玩家人口統計或同期群分析的任何信息，以幫助我們了解這裡的一些趨勢。

Thanks, Clay, for the question. This is Humam. As you can see from the Q3 results, had a terrific quarter and Candy achieved its highest in-app revenue quarter since the acquisition. So let me focus in on that in-app performance specifically. There are a number of initiatives that are really been contributing to the success over the recent quarters and will carry us into the future. We've increased the optimizations that we put in the game. So we think about this as a player journey and we've continued to improve that player journey with strong live op execution. This benefits across cohorts of players. So we've delivered compelling content and events more frequently across all of our key titles.

謝謝克萊的提問。這是胡瑪姆。正如您從第三季度的業績中看到的那樣，Candy 度過了一個出色的季度，並且實現了自收購以來最高的應用程式內收入季度。因此，讓我專門關注應用內的效能。有許多舉措確實為最近幾季的成功做出了貢獻，並將帶領我們走向未來。我們增加了遊戲中的優化。因此，我們將其視為玩家旅程，並且我們透過強大的即時操作執行繼續改進玩家旅程。這對玩家群體都有好處。因此，我們在所有主要遊戲中更頻繁地提供引人注目的內容和活動。

So to give you an example, in Candy, we've increased that engagement by further developing the content slate into monthly seasonal events that really draw in new and existing players and provides fun experience across the board. With this quarter, we've complemented that with the launch of the Candy All Stars (sic) [Candy Crush All Stars] competition in the U.S. and we've seen some very strong initial results across reach, engagement and player investment.

舉個例子，在《Candy》中，我們透過將內容板進一步開發為每月的季節性活動來提高參與度，這些活動真正吸引了新玩家和現有玩家，並提供全面的有趣體驗。本季度，我們在美國推出了 Candy All Stars（原文如此）[Candy Crush All Stars] 競賽，並在影響力、參與度和玩家投資方面看到了一些非常強勁的初步成果。

We feel -- we also found a successful formula over the past 12 months to invest and grow live ops, and we're now applying that with great results, not just in Candy, but across other games too. So our second biggest franchise, for example, Farm Heroes, over the past few quarters, we've been delivering this content cadence and great events and the farm season pass. And we've seen the results from that as well. Our in-app growth in Farm Heroes has been up 20% year-to-date as a result.

我們認為，在過去12 個月裡，我們還找到了一個成功的公式來投資和發展實時運營，現在我們正在應用該公式，並取得了良好的成果，不僅在Candy 中，而且在其他遊戲中也是如此。因此，我們的第二大系列，例如《農場英雄》，在過去的幾季中，我們一直在提供這種內容節奏、精彩活動和農場季票。我們也看到了結果。因此，今年迄今為止，《Farm Heroes》的應用程式內成長已成長 20%。

With that, we've continued to reinvest into the network and in our brands as well. So we've seen that our payer numbers have grown double-digit percentage year-on-year versus the year ago quarter. And this is, again, down to the strong execution that we have in our teams around user acquisition. And when you combine with the features and events that are happening in the game, really an amplification of all these great trends that we are seeing. So that's also allowed us to maximize our success in more marketing investments and continuing to broaden our player base. So overall, I feel like we've demonstrated that ability to grow both revenue and operating income at the same time. We feel there's still quite a bit of runway ahead of us.

因此，我們繼續對網路和品牌進行再投資。因此，我們看到我們的付款人數量與去年同期相比同比增長了兩位數。這又要歸功於我們團隊在用戶獲取方面的強大執行力。當你結合遊戲中發生的功能和事件時，我們所看到的所有這些偉大趨勢確實得到了放大。因此，這也使我們能夠在更多的行銷投資和繼續擴大我們的玩家基礎方面取得最大的成功。總的來說，我覺得我們已經證明了同時增加收入和營業收入的能力。我們覺得我們前面還有很長的路要走。

And Clay, thank you for the question. This is Daniel. First, just a shout out to Humam and the King team for what they've achieved. It really has just been an exceptional performance and journey. And just from an Activision, Blizzard, King perspective, just there are a lot of learnings that we really want to apply across both Activision and Blizzard and it's not just in mobile from the King team's operations. For instance, King's live operation capabilities, their deeply analytical approach to creating amazing experiences that truly engage the players and the disciplined data-driven approach to marketing is just very applicable across the rest of the business.

克萊，謝謝你的提問。這是丹尼爾.首先，對 Humam 和 King 團隊所取得的成就表示讚賞。這確實是一次非凡的表演和旅程。從動視、暴雪和 King 的角度來看，我們確實希望將許多經驗應用到動視和暴雪，而不僅僅是從 King 團隊的運作中應用到行動領域。例如，King 的即時營運能力、他們創造真正吸引玩家的精彩體驗的深入分析方法以及嚴格的數據驅動行銷方法非常適合其他業務。

So we're already making sure that these performance marketing learnings are being applied to our work on Call of Duty Mobile and to Diablo Immortal and other mobile initiatives that will be coming in the not-too-distant future across the company. So similar to how we are looking to apply the Call of Duty framework to our other franchises, it's another example of how Activision Blizzard is really leveraging the best of each of our businesses to truly maximize the potential of our portfolio. Thanks again for the question.

因此，我們已經確保將這些績效行銷經驗應用到我們的《決勝時刻》行動版、《暗黑破壞神：不朽》以及其他將在不久的將來在整個公司推出的行動計畫中。與我們希望將《決勝時刻》框架應用於我們的其他特許經營權的方式類似，這是動視暴雪如何真正利用我們每項業務的最佳優勢來真正最大限度地發揮我們產品組合潛力的另一個例子。再次感謝您的提問。

The next question comes from Alexia Quadrani of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Alexia Quadrani。

My question is really about the Call of Duty. Can you discuss at sort of a high level how Activision will integrate Vanguard into Warzone, which announced its content for both Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War. And then can you remind us how the launch of season one of Black Ops in mid-December last year impacted the pacing of unit sales relative to prior years?

我的問題其實是關於《決勝時刻》的。您能否從較高的層面討論一下動視將如何將《先鋒》整合到《戰區》中，《戰區》宣布了《現代戰爭》和《黑色行動冷戰》的內容。那麼您能否提醒我們，去年 12 月中旬推出的《黑色行動》第一季對往年的單位銷售節奏有何影響？

Alexia, it's Rob. I'll take this question. Thanks. So to start, we're obviously excited about both the launch of Vanguard this week and also Warzone's new Pacific map called Caldera, which is releasing early in December. The new map represents really the first built from the ground up new experience for Warzone since the launch of Warzone basically in March of 2020. So we think the community is going to be really excited to get in and play that and experience the entire Vanguard universe.

亞歷克西婭，我是羅布。我來回答這個問題。謝謝。首先，我們顯然對本週推出的《Vanguard》和《戰區》的新太平洋地圖 Caldera 感到興奮，該地圖將於 12 月初發布。新地圖確實代表了自 2020 年 3 月推出《戰區》以來，《戰區》首次從頭開始構建的新體驗。

Coming with that, of course, there are a lot of things, some of which were mentioned. I'll just briefly cover them. One of which was Warzone shares the same tech as Vanguard. And so what does that mean? This is the same tech that debuted with Modern Warfare. And so from a player perspective, you can get a lot more seamless weapon and play balance experience across both experiences. And what's become a staple for us now is really a game that's fully optimized for cross-play, cross-progression and cross-gen support. We've seen that the last couple of years, and that carries forward. I think importantly, for our community, we're also going to be launching RICOCHET, it's our new anti-cheat system, across Vanguard and Warzone so that our players have the best possible experience as we move forward here in the future.

當然，隨之而來的還有很多事情，其中​​一些已經提到了。我將簡單介紹一下它們。其中之一就是《戰區》與《先鋒》共享相同的技術。那麼這意味著什麼呢？這與《現代戰爭》中首次亮相的技術相同。因此，從玩家的角度來看，您可以在這兩種體驗中獲得更多無縫武器和遊戲平衡體驗。現在我們的主打產品實際上是一款針對跨平台遊戲、跨進程和跨世代支援進行全面優化的遊戲。過去幾年我們已經看到了這一點，並且這種情況仍在繼續。我認為重要的是，對於我們的社群來說，我們還將在《Vanguard》和《Warzone》中推出RICOCHET，這是我們新的反作弊系統，以便我們的玩家在我們未來前進時獲得最佳體驗。

Now specifically, as to the integration, we're going to continue to have the shared progression across Vanguard and Warzone just like we had against Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War previously. So all the great weapons, operators, unlocks and everything that you get on the Vanguard premium experience will also be usable in Warzone. So how the 2 work together is absolutely intact and better than ever. Battle Pass and Stormfront and storm content, of course, will also go back and forth for players to use and have fun with.

現在具體來說，就整合而言，我們將繼續在《先鋒隊》和《戰區》中保持共同的進展，就像我們之前對抗《現代戰爭》和《黑色行動冷戰》一樣。因此，所有出色的武器、操作員、解鎖內容以及您在《先鋒》高級體驗中獲得的一切也都可以在《戰區》中使用。因此，兩者的合作方式絕對完好無損，而且比以往任何時候都更好。當然，Battle Pass 和 Stormfront 以及風暴內容也會來回供玩家使用和享受樂趣。

Now there is a new component for us here. And the new Warzone experience is going to offer some new dedicated playlists that are very specific to the Vanguard theme that we think is going to be really fun for the community. And of course, to honor the players' investment, we'll also have unique playlists that are more of a combined arms Battle Royale experience [we achieve slowdowns] across Modern Warfare, Black Ops or Vanguard. So I think that will be really fun for the community to choose how they want to experience the new map and the new content.

現在我們這裡有一個新元件。新的《戰區》體驗將提供一些新的專用播放列表，這些播放列表非常適合《先鋒》主題，我們認為這對社區來說非常有趣。當然，為了尊重玩家的投資，我們還將擁有獨特的播放列表，這些播放列表更像是《現代戰爭》、《黑色行動》或《先鋒》中的聯合兵種大逃殺體驗（我們實現了減速） 。所以我認為，對於社群來說，選擇他們想要如何體驗新地圖和新內容將會非常有趣。

And also, I think what's become a staple for us as we move forward, our players can expect a ton of free post-launch content and updates from Vanguard and from Warzone to keep them having fun for the long haul. So both games are really just going to get bigger and better as they evolve over time for the community.

而且，我認為隨著我們前進，我們的玩家可以期待來自《Vanguard》和《戰區》的大量免費的發布後內容和更新，讓他們長期享受樂趣。因此，隨著時間的推移，這兩款遊戲都會變得越來越大、越來越好。

Now going back to your question on the impact of Black Ops last December, so we certainly saw an uptick last December. I believe we talked about that in the previous earnings call. And similarly, we expect another uptick this fourth quarter for our premium sales as we go through that cycle, launch the new map and see how the community engages more broadly, both within Warzone and within our premium experience. Thank you, Alexia, for the questions.

現在回到你關於去年 12 月《黑色行動》影響的問題，所以我們在去年 12 月確實看到了上升。我相信我們在之前的財報電話會議中討論過這一點。同樣，我們預計第四季度我們的高級銷售額將再次上升，因為我們將經歷這個週期，推出新地圖，並了解社區如何在《戰區》和我們的高級體驗中更廣泛地參與。謝謝亞歷克西婭提出的問題。

The next question comes from Kunaal Malde of Atlantic Equities.

下一個問題來自大西洋股票公司的庫納爾·馬爾德。

Just wondering if you could talk about the performance of Diablo II: Resurrected and what it sort of informs you about the opportunity for the Diablo franchise overall.

只是想知道您是否可以談談《暗黑破壞神 II：復活》的表現以及它對您有關《暗黑破壞神》系列整體機會的信息。

Kunaal, thanks for the question. This is Mike again. The reception of Diablo II: Resurrected has been great. As you heard Daniel mention, first week sales were the highest recorded for a remaster from Activision Blizzard as a whole. This, alongside the continued engagement with Diablo III, really is confirmation that our plan for the Diablo franchise as a whole is the right one. There's a huge appetite from our player community for more content from this dark gothic universe, and it's our job to exceed player expectations.

庫納爾，謝謝你的提問。這又是麥克。 《暗黑破壞神 II：復活》的反應非常好。正如您聽到丹尼爾提到的那樣，首周銷量是動視暴雪重製版的最高記錄。這一點，再加上與《暗黑破壞神 III》的持續合作，確實證實了我們對整個《暗黑破壞神》系列的計劃是正確的。我們的玩家社群對這個黑暗哥德宇宙的更多內容有著巨大的興趣，而我們的工作就是超越玩家的期望。

Diablo II: Resurrected is an early step towards meeting this demand. We have ignited nostalgia in players who experienced the original way back in 2000 as well as brought all new players into the fold. Diablo Immortal being in its next stage of testing is incredibly exciting, and we'll give players another window into the world of Sanctuary. They'll be able to take part in an all-new narrative in a persistent free-to-play social experience, all from their mobile devices. Immortal provides an even easier entry point for players into a game broader in scope and scale than Diablo III.

《暗黑破壞神 II：復活》是滿足這需求的早期一步。我們點燃了那些在 2000 年體驗過原始方式的玩家的懷舊之情，並讓所有新玩家加入。 《暗黑破壞神：不朽》進入下一階段的測試非常令人興奮，我們將為玩家提供進入庇護所世界的另一個窗口。他們將能夠透過行動裝置參與持續的免費社交體驗中的全新敘事。 《Immortal》為玩家提供了一個比《暗黑破壞神 III》範圍和規模更廣泛的遊戲更簡單的切入點。

Then Diablo IV, which will be the darkest expression of the universe yet is an immersive world, players can dive into together on PC and console. This is one of the most highly anticipated games in the industry, and we are confident that we are building something incredible. These experiences combined create an ecosystem where our players of all types can feel at home, and it doesn't stop there. Diablo will always be living and breathing with broad content updates over time to continue to delight our players. Seeing the first step of this plan executed with the release of Diablo II: Resurrected off to such a strong start is invigorating to the teams across Blizzard and we can't wait to get more into the hands of our players. Thanks for the question.

然後是《暗黑破壞神 IV》，這將是宇宙中最黑暗的表現形式，也是一個身臨其境的世界，玩家可以在 PC 和主機上一起潛入其中。這是業界最受期待的遊戲之一，我們相信我們正在創造一些令人難以置信的東西。這些體驗結合起來創造了一個生態系統，讓我們所有類型的玩家都能有賓至如歸的感覺，而且不只如此。隨著時間的推移，《暗黑破壞神》將永遠充滿活力並進行廣泛的內容更新，以繼續取悅我們的玩家。看到這個計劃的第一步隨著《暗黑破壞神II：復活》的發布而得到執行，並取得瞭如此強勁的開局，這讓暴雪的團隊感到振奮，我們迫不及待地想讓我們的玩家得到更多的東西。謝謝你的提問。

The next question comes from Mario Lu of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的馬裡奧·盧。

Great. I have a follow-up on King with respect to IDFA. So you reported a very strong quarter despite being the first full quarter of the IDFA changes on iOS. So just curious if there was anything to call out in terms of its impact that you saw to Candy Crush or your other mobile titles.

偉大的。我對 King 的 IDFA 進行了後續跟進。因此，儘管這是 iOS 上 IDFA 變化的第一個完整季度，但您報告了一個非常強勁的季度。所以我只是想知道，就您所看到的《糖果粉碎傳奇》或其他手機遊戲的影響而言，是否有什麼值得一提的地方。

Yes. Thanks, Mario. This is Humam again. Look, we're still early on in the journey with IDFA. But so far, we're seeing this create opportunities for us on the user acquisition side. And as you would have seen on the advertising side, we are continuing to grow quite robustly. So on the user acquisition side, we have a very large and sophisticated user acquisition team, and they've been really hands-on and granular when they run our campaigns.

是的。謝謝，馬裡奧。這又是胡瑪姆。看，我們與 IDFA 的合作還處於早期階段。但到目前為止，我們看到這為我們在用戶獲取方面創造了機會。正如您在廣告方面看到的那樣，我們正在繼續強勁增長。因此，在用戶獲取方面，我們擁有一支非常龐大且經驗豐富的用戶獲取團隊，他們在進行我們的行銷活動時非常親力親為、細緻入微。

And so when we see changes and dynamism in the industry because of IDFA, this created market opportunities that we've been able to capitalize on. And the tailwinds that we are seeing in our payer conversion and spending gives us a lot of flexibility to invest in these ROI positive opportunities. So much of our UA is aimed at win back. So over 1 billion people, we believe, have downloaded Candy in the past. And so this gives us also a very great brand advantage.

因此，當我們看到 IDFA 帶來的產業變化和活力時，這創造了我們能夠利用的市場機會。我們在付款人轉換和支出方面看到的順風車為我們提供了很大的靈活性來投資這些投資回報率積極的機會。我們的用戶獲取的大部分目標都是為了贏回來。因此，我們相信過去有超過 10 億人下載過 Candy。這也為我們帶來了非常大的品牌優勢。

Now on the advertising side of the house, we've seen 60% year-on-year growth, which points to our ongoing strength. We believe we have a very differentiated product there. It's a premium position with advertisers and we're still early in building our ad business. So we continue to focus on ramping up these relationship with demand partners with continued positive momentum for both new demand partners and our existing ones. So overall, we're seeing a lot of opportunity in both volume and pricing in the ads business as well. Thanks for the question.

現在，在廣告方面，我們看到了 60% 的同比增長，這表明了我們持續的實力。我們相信我們在那裡擁有非常差異化的產品。對廣告商來說，這是一個非常有利的地位，而且我們的廣告業務還處於早期發展階段。因此，我們繼續致力於加強與需求合作夥伴的關係，為新需求合作夥伴和現有需求合作夥伴提供持續的積極勢頭。總的來說，我們在廣告業務的數量和定價方面也看到了許多機會。謝謝你的提問。

The next question comes from Matthew Cost of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的馬修‧科斯特。

I was wondering how you're thinking about the durability of Call of Duty from here as well as the kind of innovation and content pipeline we should expect over time going forward.

我想知道您如何看待《決勝時刻》的持久性，以及我們未來應該期待的創新和內容管道。

Matt, it's Rob. Look, on your question, I guess I'll start with just saying, in short, I don't think we've ever -- well, I know we've never felt better about the future of the Call of Duty ecosystem as we look forward. To date, the strategies that we've employed, which include, of course, our expansion into free-to-play with Warzone and Call of Duty mobile, our continued push to deliver incredible new premium experiences and how the overall ecosystem is really connected and it works together is actually just the beginning of what our plans entail long term.

馬特，這是羅布。聽著，關於你的問題，我想我首先要說的是，簡而言之，我認為我們從未——嗯，我知道我們對《決勝時刻》生態系統的未來從未有過這樣的感覺。到目前為止，我們所採用的策略當然包括我們向免費遊戲《戰區》和《決勝時刻》行動版的擴張、我們不斷努力提供令人難以置信的全新優質體驗以及整個生態系統如何真正連接起來它的協同作用其實只是我們長期計劃的開始。

Looking ahead, we see significant opportunities across gameplay expansion, platform expansion and geographic expansion to take this ecosystem to an entirely new level for our players around the world. I'd say put another way, we feel there's more opportunity in front of the franchise than at any point in our history. And that's a pretty incredible thing to be able to say given the success that we've seen to date.

展望未來，我們看到了遊戲玩法擴展、平台擴展和地理擴展方面的重大機遇，可以為世界各地的玩家將這個生態系統提升到一個全新的水平。換句話說，我們覺得球隊面前的機會比我們歷史上的任何時候都多。考慮到我們迄今為止所取得的成功，這是一件非常令人難以置信的事情。

Of course, the next phase begins in the coming days and weeks with Vanguard and the new map, Caldera in Warzone, but really, there's so much more as we look ahead in the future, both near and long term. Driving this ambition for us, of course, is our talented development teams and the resources we have there, which we're committed to greatly expanding both at our existing studios but also geographically to find new talent around the globe. So we're expanding in locations like Austin, Guildford, Krakow, Melbourne, Mexico City and Toronto to augment our teams.

當然，下一階段將在未來幾天或幾週內開始，包括《先鋒》和新地圖《戰區卡爾德拉》，但實際上，我們展望未來，無論是近期還是長期，還有更多東西。當然，推動我們實現這一雄心壯志的是我們才華橫溢的開發團隊和我們擁有的資源，我們致力於在現有工作室和地理上大力擴展這些資源，以在全球範圍內尋找新的人才。因此，我們正在奧斯汀、吉爾福德、克拉科夫、墨爾本、墨西哥城和多倫多等地擴張，以擴大我們的團隊。

And you may already know, we recently acquired Digital Legends in Barcelona. They joined our mobile development roster, which now includes our new internal team, Solid State as well as the mobile teams at Beenox and Shanghai were all coming together on an unannounced project in the Call of Duty universe that's very exciting. So I'd say, overall, we feel really good about our plans, our outlook, our team, and our gameplay innovation as we look out over the next few years and beyond.

您可能已經知道，我們最近收購了巴塞隆納的 Digital Legends。他們加入了我們的行動開發人員名單，現在包括我們新的內部團隊Solid State 以及Beenox 和上海的移動團隊，他們都聚集在一起參與《決勝時刻》宇宙中的一個未宣布的項目，這非常令人興奮。所以我想說，總的來說，當我們展望未來幾年及以後的發展時，我們對我們的計劃、我們的前景、我們的團隊和我們的遊戲創新感到非常滿意。

The next question comes from Andrew Uerkwitz of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Andrew Uerkwitz。

Guys, your stock’s at, I think, a 5-year low as far as valuation goes, you're sitting on a ton of cash. You say you couldn't be more excited about the pipeline. Why not do a stock buyback at this point? Or could you talk about capital allocation and kind of M&A at this point?

夥計們，我認為，就估值而言，你們的股票處於 5 年來的低點，你們坐擁大量現金。你說你對這條管道感到非常興奮。為什麼此時不進行股票回購呢？或者您現在能談談資本配置和併購類型嗎？

Andrew, this is Armin. Thanks for the question. On your question on capital allocation, as you know, we do have a strong track record of being balanced -- we allocate capital across all the areas that you mentioned, investing in our business, returning capital to shareholders via buybacks and dividend as well as strategic M&A starting with investing in our own business. You’ve heard today, we continue to have a very, very strong pipeline. So investing in our business and in our development teams remains our key priority.

安德魯，這是阿明。謝謝你的提問。關於你關於資本分配的問題，如你所知，我們確實有良好的平衡記錄——我們在你提到的所有領域分配資本，投資我們的業務，透過回購和股息向股東返還資本以及策略併購從投資我們自己的業務開始。您今天已經聽說了，我們仍然擁有非常非常強大的管道。因此，投資我們的業務和開發團隊仍然是我們的首要任務。

And as Daniel mentioned, we'll continue to look to accelerate organic hiring in this area with acqui-hiring. This was announced with Digital Legends purchase last week, but these type of transactions are typically smaller in nature. Now with regards to larger M&A, we're always on the lookout for large established franchises that have potential for global scale and strong management teams with a track record of profitability and, of course, an attractive valuation that hits our return threshold.

正如丹尼爾所提到的，我們將繼續尋求透過收購招聘來加速這一領域的有機招聘。這是在上週購買 Digital Legends 時宣布的，但此類交易通常規模較小。現在，對於更大規模的併購，我們一直在尋找具有全球規模潛力的大型特許經營企業，以及擁有良好盈利記錄的強大管理團隊，當然，還有達到我們回報門檻的有吸引力的估值。

Now as you know, we have been very disciplined and patient in this area. But the longer-term opportunity for M&A means that we place significant option value on having a strong and flexible balance sheet. Now at the same time, with respect to buybacks, to come to the core of your question, we do have a $4 billion authorization. And while you haven't seen us do anything in a long time here, we do evaluate our position with respect to buyback frequently.

如您所知，我們在這方面一直非常自律和耐心。但併購的長期機會意味著我們將重要的選擇權價值放在擁有強大且靈活的資產負債表上。同時，關於回購，回到你問題的核心，我們確實擁有 40 億美元的授權。雖然您已經很長時間沒有看到我們在這裡做任何事情了，但我們確實經常評估我們在回購方面的立場。

Now obviously, the increase in cash generation from the company gives us more and more flexibility over time. But just bear in mind, though, that we don't announce when we're buying back stock ahead of time and that sometimes there may be restrictions in our ability to comment on the buyback. So in summary, expect us to be -- continue to be balanced and disciplined in how we allocate capital, always with a view to the long-term shareholder value creation. Thank you for your question.

顯然，隨著時間的推移，公司現金產生的增加為我們帶來了越來越多的靈活性。但請記住，我們不會提前宣布何時回購股票，有時我們對回購發表評論的能力可能會受到限制。總而言之，期望我們在資本分配方面繼續保持平衡和紀律，始終著眼於創造長期股東價值。謝謝你的提問。

Our next question comes from Mike Ng of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的麥克吳。

You touched upon the increased competition for developer talent and the higher voluntary turnover. I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit in more detail about Activision Blizzard's efforts to attract and retain talent, whether that's moving more towards a distributed workforce or being more aggressive in hiring.

您談到了開發人員人才競爭的加劇和自願流動率的提高。我只是想知道您是否可以更詳細地談談動視暴雪在吸引和留住人才方面所做的努力，無論是更加傾向於分散的勞動力還是更加積極地招募。

Great. Thanks for the question. And this is Daniel, I guess, I'll take the last question. This is obviously something extraordinarily important, and we're putting a tremendous amount of effort into. And we've made some very substantial progress in this area particularly over the last year. Retaining and attracting our top talent, as Bobby has mentioned, is critical to us being able to meet the needs of our players, of our communities and of our growing our business.

偉大的。謝謝你的提問。我想這是丹尼爾，我將回答最後一個問題。這顯然是非常重要的事情，我們正在為此付出巨大的努力。我們在這一領域取得了一些非常實質的進展，尤其是去年。正如鮑比所提到的，留住和吸引我們的頂尖人才對於我們能夠滿足玩家、社群和業務發展的需求至關重要。

And this is -- there's really nothing more important to the company than our talent. And it really starts with making sure that our existing teams have the best possible working environment. It's an imperative. And it's also setting -- a setting that fosters creative excellence, and importantly, fantastic career opportunities where people are willing to invest their time and their careers at our company. You've heard from us today some of the measures that we're taking to ensure that, and we will continue to make significant progress.

對公司來說，沒有什麼比我們的人才更重要的了。首先要確保我們現有的團隊擁有最好的工作環境。這是勢在必行的。它也是一種環境——培養卓越創造力的環境，更重要的是，它提供了絕佳的職業機會，人們願意在我們公司投入時間和職業生涯。今天您已經聽到了我們為確保這一目標而採取的一些措施，我們將繼續取得重大進展。

And when it comes to hiring, we're really fortunate that many individuals want to work on our franchises for which they have just tremendous affinity. They've played it for a very long time, oftentimes since they were little. And we can offer that with some of the biggest franchises in the world. We also have the financial scale that enables us to compete for that talent. But I know that's not enough. And especially with many people's attitudes to where and how they want to work changing during the pandemic, we have to keep that in mind. And we're giving our teams the flexibility that they need.

在招聘方面，我們真的很幸運，許多人都想在我們的特許經營店工作，而他們對這些特許經營店有著極大的親和力。他們已經玩了很長時間，通常是從很小的時候就開始玩。我們可以透過世界上一些最大的特許經營權來提供這一點。我們也擁有足夠的財務規模來爭取人才。但我知道這還不夠。尤其是在疫情期間，許多人對工作地點和工作方式的態度發生了變化，我們必須牢記這一點。我們為我們的團隊提供他們所需的靈活性。

And we have also been investing in studios, as Rob mentioned, in many locations that are new for us, including Krakow, Melbourne, Toronto and Mexico City, where I'm from. We've had a lot of success in hiring in recent months in those franchises that were earliest in embracing this geographic expansion and flexibility, particularly for Call of Duty and for Candy Crush, and we've already started to pursue that same approach for Blizzard and Blizzard's franchises. And Mike, he is completely on board with this as we continue to invest and grow our teams in multiple locations. So thank you for the question.

正如羅布所提到的，我們也在許多對我們來說是新的地方投資工作室，包括克拉科夫、墨爾本、多倫多和我的家鄉墨西哥城。近幾個月來，我們在那些最早接受這種地域擴張和靈活性的特許經營權方面取得了很大的成功，特別是《使命召喚》和《糖果粉碎傳奇》，我們已經開始為暴雪採取同樣的方法和暴雪的特許經營權。麥克，隨著我們繼續在多個地點投資和發展我們的團隊，他完全同意這一點。謝謝你的提問。

Well, thank you, everybody, for your questions and your interest and participation. We hope we see you all later this week in the games during the Call Of Duty launch. Thank you very much again.

好的，謝謝大家的提問以及你們的興趣和參與。我們希望本週稍晚在《決勝時刻》發布期間能在遊戲中見到大家。再次非常感謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演示，您現在可以斷開連接了。