In case you all didn't hear, Activision (ATVI), missed Q4 earnings by 0.03 in EPS and $80mm in revenue From the ATVI earnings call transcript: "First of all, please note that as was mentioned earlier, we do not expect a full-game Destiny release this year, which has an approximately $0.15 impact on our guidance. [b]A full-game Destiny sequel is now expected in 2017[/b] ... Note that both the Destiny timing and the King compensation impact are included in our $1.75 non-GAAP EPS guidance for the year." "And [b]our partnership with Sony is off to a great start[/b] on both Call of Duty and Destiny." "we also saw phenomenal reception to [b]in-game content and services[/b]. This is a virtuous cycle. Engagement creates the opportunity for us to earn additional player investment by providing more great content, which in turn leads to more engagement. Along with our partners at Bungie, we continued to grow [b]Destiny's incredibly loyal audience base and introduce new ways to excite the community throughout the year[/b], culminating in the release of The Taken King, which achieved record digital attach rates in Q3. And the Destiny community responded well to the new content we made available for purchase in-game in Q4, which allowed players to customize their experience." "Turning to Destiny, the Destiny community is one of the most passionate, loyal audiences for a game that we have ever seen. Our audience has logged nearly three billion hours in the game. We're excited to announce that we will be bringing [b]a large new expansion to Destiny this year[/b] that players are going to love. We will also be delivering other content and events throughout the year to keep the community engaged. We are also working with Bungie on the sequel to Destiny, which will be coming in 2017, and we look forward to sharing more with you on this in the future." Q & A Brian J. Pitz - Jefferies LLC "A question on Destiny. Lots of change obviously going on at Bungie right now. Maybe you could comment on what it all means? And then any commentary maybe on micro transaction plans for the driving of ongoing engagement? Thanks so much." Eric Hirshberg - President and Chief Executive Officer, Activision Publishing, Inc. "Sure. Thanks, Brian. So, first of all, it's important for us to keep it in context and acknowledge that we have incredible success on our hands with Destiny that we've created with Bungie, the partnership between Activision and Bungie has proven to be a potent one and we don't see that changing. I think Bungie's proven themselves to be a capable team over many years and many games and combinations of leadership. So while the decisions that they made recently related to their organization are up to them, we're confident that our interests remain 100% aligned and that we're going to continue together to deliver amazing content for our shared fans. On the second part of your question, Destiny is one of the most engaging games of all time and our first job is to make sure that it stays that way. So all the content that we're providing is designed to make sure that we not only [b]capitalize on that engagement[/b], but also continue to make the game better and better for our fans, and that's why we're planning on delivering a large expansion this year and more incremental content along the way to keep fans engaged. And of course we're looking forward to Destiny 2 in 2017." ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please note that the emphasis in these quotes are mine. I tried to pick the most relevant pieces from the transcript but feel free to read the whole thing at: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3890016-activision-blizzard-atvi-robert-kotick-q4-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript So what does all this mean?? To me it looks like ATVI is mostly hurting from the erosion of World of Warcraft (WOW) and the acquisition of King Digital (makers of Candy Crush). They are now leaning on other games (like Destiny) to bring in some incremental revenue from micro transactions. If I were to guess, I would think ATVI will try to milk us for the extra micro transaction $$$ until they release a large expansion for holiday 2016, then release Destiny 2 in holiday 2017. I understand a company needs to make money, but hurting your loyal fanbase is not a smart idea. I have not been active in Destiny for quite some time due to the lack of content and cash grabbing techniques of ATVI. If we really want change.. we need to speak ATVI's language.. MONEY. I say that if this new expansion does NOT live up to the expectations of the community that we need to take the $$$ we would have spent and open a short position in ATVI stock. Edit: OK.. so maybe shorting the stock is going a little too far. All I am saying is that the only way we are going to be able to produce change is to vote with our wallets. I was pretty disappointed reading through the earnings transcript today and thought I would share my views to the general Destiny community that probably doesn't follow these things. Please understand that these are just my opinions and my only aim is to start a discussion. TL;DR Sequel won't be out until 2017, "large new expansion" will be out in 2016. Activision plans to continue to utilizing "one of the most passionate, loyal audiences for a game that we have ever seen" by throwing micro transactions into AAA games like Destiny and COD.