Activision reports fiscal 2010 earnings, digital sales up 20%

Publishing giant Activision Blizzard has dropped some hard numbers regarding its business performance for its fiscal 2010 year, which ended December 31. The company reports net revenue for the year reached $4.45 billion, up from $4.28 billion in 2009. (Though revenue recorded in the fourth quarter alone was just $1.43 billion, down from $1.56 billion during the same period the year before.)

The standout news is that $1.5 billion of annual revenue came from digital sales, which the company says are up 20 percent over 2009 -- and up 40 percent in Q4 alone. According to the report, digital-based revenue was "driven by increased sales of Activision Publishing's Call of Duty map packs and value-added services for Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft," which CEO Bobby Kotick attributed in part to "significantly enhanced user activity and engagement for our expanding online communities."

Selling 1.4 million copies of the first Black Ops map pack on a single platform within 24 hours of its release is certainly what we'd call "user activity."