Activision Blizzard leveled up again, with 27% net revenue growth in Q1 2021.

“Call of Duty” was a key driver behind the company’s $2.28 billion net haul during the quarter, with in-game purchases for the franchise’s various PC and console versions growing 60%.

The company owns several more of the most recognizable titles in gaming, including “World of Warcraft,” “Overwatch,” “Crash Bandicoot,” “Hearthstone,” and “Candy Crush.”

Activision Blizzard has pursued a multifaceted strategy to recruit players, developers and fans into gaming and esports.

• Monthly active users across “Call of Duty” titles grew 40% year-over-year, and have tripled since 2019, reaching 150 million in Q1. Much of the Activision side’s growth came from the introduction of free-to-play and mobile options for the series.
• The company’s Blizzard segment revenue grew 7%, led by the “World of Warcraft: Shadowlands” expansion. Blizzard had 27 million monthly active users in the quarter.
• The King segment, and its 258 million monthly active users, rode the massively popular “Candy Crush” to 22% growth. King’s advertising revenue is up 70%. 

Despite the surge in gaming during the pandemic, leading to $56 billion in global console sales in 2020, Activision Blizzard laid off around 190 employees during Q1 2021.

CEO Bobby Kotick cut his base pay in half to $875,000, but could be due $200 million in bonuses, according to activist investor group CtW.

Table tennis — known to many as ping-pong — is a major underdog when it comes to earning potential.

The International Table Tennis Federation, which includes 226 member associations, launched World Table Tennis in 2020. The commercial entity has a purse of $13 million each year and signed Coca-Cola as its first-ever sponsor last November. 

“Our industry is huge, there are hobby players all over the world who follow the scene,” Steve Dainton, chief executive of the ITTF, told The Straits Times. He added that the sport could someday generate “billions of dollars, and we are really only scraping at the surface with our current business model.”

Ma Long is considered by some of the most famous players. He won three world championships and, as of March 2020, was worth an estimated $20 million on earnings from both winnings and partnerships.

The average player makes between $3,000 to $35,000 each season, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988. China is holding a simulation event this week to help players prepare for Tokyo Games.

The sport is also doing well in the sports betting space.

Music superstar Travis Scott says that he doesn’t like the words “branding” and “marketing,” but top corporations continue to seek him out for direction on both.

In recent years, sports and entertainment companies, among others, have flocked to Scott, who was just named Adweek’s Creator Visionary of the Year. Some of the companies working with the platinum-selling artist:

• Nike
• Jordan
• Epic Games
• PlayStation
• McDonald’s
• AB inBev

The 29-year-old lends his signature style to these companies and is paid handsomely in return. A source in Scott’s camp told Forbes that he was set to bring in over $100 million from corporate partnerships last year.

Scott’s partnership with Nike is particularly lucrative, generating a reported $10 million a year for Scott. He’s collaborated with the sneaker giant on designs since 2017. 

In his most recent branded release, Scott’s “British Khaki” Air Jordan 6 debuted April 30 and featured former NBA champion Richard “Rip” Hamilton in the ad campaign.

Scott has also plunged into the global gaming market. 

He’s a strategic creative partner for PlayStation and, in April 2020, he held a free virtual concert within Epic’s “Fortnite.” More than 12 million concurrent viewers watched the 15-minute concert. 

Epic reportedly paid Scott roughly $20 million for the show.

Amazon Prime is getting next-year delivery on its “Thursday Night Football” package.

The tech and retail giant’s deal for the mid-week NFL broadcast was originally announced as starting in 2023 but will instead start in 2022 and run until 2033. 

One preseason game and 15 regular season games will air on Prime Video. Amazon is paying $1 billion a year for the exclusive streaming rights. The company can afford it: first-quarter 2021 revenue alone exploded to $108.5 billion, growing 44% year-over-year and smashing analyst expectations.

Amazon views the streaming rights as reason for people to keep paying for its Prime subscription, which has more than 200 million subscribers. For context, Netflix boasts 207 million global subscribers. 

Last year, Amazon shared “Thursday Night Football” broadcasting rights with Fox and the NFL Network. Fox will no longer air it after this season. 

Sports are a key part of Amazon’s pitch to advertisers. 

• The company has sought out the largest global audiences, with broadcasting deals for the New York Yankees, the Premier and Champions Leagues, and rumored negotiations for cricket’s Indian Premier League.
• The new “Thursday Night Football” announcement came on the same day as Amazon’s first-ever presentation at the NewFronts digital content and advertising marketplace.

Amazon has sought to differentiate its broadcasts through fan-led customizations, like allowing viewers to choose between stats-focused, scouting-based, or local commentators. The company’s “X-Ray” technology also allows fans to see stats and other information on the screen at will.