These expanded teams are working on innovative new content across console, PC, and mobile for both in-game content and for new releases. Most of the work underway will set us up for future growth; but we also saw encouraging early progress in several of our flagship franchises. In particular, new in-game content for Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft reinvigorated those communities; and drove improved Q2 fans.

In Hearthstone, a great response to the Rise of Shadows expansion, and the substantial new single player content led to net bookings growth versus the prior quarter, and versus the Q4 expansions; and World of Warcraft saw growth in subscribers in the second half of the quarter, driven by both the Rise of Azshara major update (late in the quarter), and by building excitement on the imminent launch of World of Warcraft Classic.

Now we recognize that these are early signs of progress, and that there is more work ahead; but the enthusiasm with which our communities are responding, again highlights the growth potential of our franchises; and we intend to build on this progress as we continue increasing investment in our key franchises in the second half.

Blizzard had 32 million monthly active users up slightly from Q1. Hearthstone’s monthly active users increased sequentially following a new release of the Rise of Shadows expansion; and deeper, more engaging single-player content in the quarter.

While the competitive environment is increasingly challenging, we see substantial opportunities ahead for the Hearthstone franchise. Our expanded Hearthstone team plans to build on the strength of its Q2 content cadence with a strong pipeline of new content and features over the coming months that we think players will love; and we look forward to the team announcing their plans.