Over the years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been known for his love of video games, something he often tweets about.
At the age of 12, Musk sold a video game company he created for $500, which might be why he loves video games so much.
After tweeting many times about popular game Elden Ring in 2022, Musk might have a new favorite game.
What Happened: Musk recently shared his praise for Diablo IV, a video game title from Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI. The comments come after the Blizzard title saw huge sales figures out of the gate.
“Diablo IV is a great game. Nice work by the @Blizzard_Ent team!” Musk tweeted.
Musk went on to tell a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he previously played other Diablo titles in his video game-playing days.
“Diablo I & II were excellent. Didn’t love Diablo III, but IV is great.”
Blizzard said Diablo IV sold more than 10 million copies and broke several company records during its second-quarter financial results.
“Diablo IV’s launch drove Blizzard's best quarter on record, leading to over $1B in net bookings and operating income growing over 300% year-over-year,” Activision Blizzard Chief Financial Officer Armin Zerza told Benzinga.
Zerza credited the work of the marketing team to get Diablo IV in front of consumers and seeing strong initial sales.
Within its first week of sales, Diablo IV had more than $666 million in sales, making the game the fastest-selling title in Blizzard’s history. Players also logged over 276 million hours during the game’s first week of release, the equivalent of 30,000 years of gameplay collectively.
Related Link: Activision Blizzard Delivers 'Modest Beat': Analyst Takeaways On Q2 Print, Microsoft Deal
Why It’s Important: Musk is a lover of video games and often shares his thoughts with his 150 million+ followers on X, the social media platform he owns.
In previous interviews, Musk praised games like Deus Ex, Fallout and Bioshock as several of his favorites.
In 2022, Musk often praised Elden Ring, including saying the game had some of the “most beautiful art” he’s ever seen.
Musk’s love of video games could play into the inclusion of Tesla Arcade, a platform that allows the playing of video games inside Tesla Inc TSLA vehicles. An update in 2022 saw the integration of Steam onto Tesla Arcade, allowing many top video games, including Elden Ring to be playable in Tesla vehicles.
Activision Blizzard reported net bookings growth of 50% year-over-year in the second quarter, helped by record results for the Blizzard segment.
“It’s all about focus and execution,” Zerza told Benzinga of the results. “We have been focused on delivering on great content and rich entertainment experiences to the passionate communities around our biggest franchises such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch.”
The positive comments about the Activision Blizzard game come as the video game company is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft Corp MSFT. While he is no longer in charge of the company, Microsoft was co-founded by Bill Gates, a billionaire who is often a rival of Musk.
ATVI Price Action: Activision Blizzard shares closed at $91.57 Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $70.94 to $93.67. The shares will be bought for $95 each if the deal with Microsoft is completed.
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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