Hearthstone and Diablo III push Activision Blizzard to bigger digital revenues

Hearthstone is starting to rack up the digital sales for game publisher Activision Blizzard.

The company reported the results of the second quarter of its calendar year, which represents the three months ending June 30. In that period, the company generated $481 million in digital online revenue (non-generally accepted accounting practices). That’s up from $383 million compared to the same period in 2013, and the publisher attributes much of that success to its Hearthstone free-to-play collectible-card game. That game is finding a significant audience that is purchasing booster packs of cards as well as entries into a special Arena mode that can help them earn in-game items. This is Blizzard’s first game that uses the free-to-play business model, and it looks like a winner.