Gamers shouldn't expect the next installment of the Diablo game franchise, Diablo III, before April, Activision Blizzard said Thursday.

Gamers shouldn't expect the next installment of the Diablo game franchise, Diablo III, before April, Activision Blizzard said Thursday.

In announcing a small profit on lower revenue compared to a year ago, Activision Blizzard said that it does not anticipate any release from its Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary in the first quarter, which ends March 31. Blizzard created the World of Warcraft series Diablo and Starcraft. Late last year, it announced

However, Blizzard also said that "calendar year 2012 outlook anticipates two releases from Blizzard Entertainment." In November, the company expressed similar goals, but said that its 2012 releases included "a minimum" of two releases.

Activision Publishing also plans to release a new Call of Duty game, grow its Call of Duty Elite online service, and launch Skylanders Giants, a new game. In March, Activision expects to release the first Content Collection, a previously released to Call of Duty Elite premium members, on Microsoft's Xbox 360, it said.

"Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft maintained its leadership position as the number-one subscription-based MMORPG around the world and Activision Publishing's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the number-one selling game," Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard's chief executive, said in a statement. "Skylanders Spyro's Adventure was the biggest new IP launch in Activision's history and it is on track to become an important and sustainable franchise. We launched our online service, Call of Duty Elite, which is one of the fastest growing premium online services ever created."

According to NPD, Activision Publishing was the top console and handheld publisher in the U.S. and Europe for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the number-one console and handheld publisher in the U.S. for the calendar year. As of Jan. 31, more than 7 million gamers registered for the Call of Duty Elite, including more than 1.5 million premium annual memberships.

The company's World of Warcraft MMORPG, the world's largest according to its own assessments, counted 10.2 million subscribers as of Dec. 31.

But the company also changed how it accounted for online revenue; in the third quarter, online subscriptions were counted as a separate item. Then, the company pulled in $274 million from all World of Warcraft products, including subscriptions, boxed products, expansion packs, licensing royalties, and value-added services.

But for the fourth quarter, that category now includes subscriptions and memberships, licensing royalties, value-added services, downloadable content, digitally distributed products, and wireless devices. In total, that category earned $363 million.