Activision Blizzard says that its March quarter net revenues and earnings are tracking ahead of the company’s previous forecast “due to the better-than-expected performance of its titles at retail”.

Two months ago the publisher forecast $860 million in GAAP net revenues and GAAP earnings of $0.08 per share for the March quarter. That figure has now been revised, although new forecasts were not disclosed.

"Global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft remains strong despite the challenging economic environment," said Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick. "We exceeded our quarterly financial goals as the video game market continues to grow and our franchises continue to perform.

“This bodes well for our upcoming spring titles Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which are inspired by theatrical feature films releases, Prototype, a new intellectual property, and the release of Guitar Hero Smash Hits as well as continued sales of our recently released Guitar Hero Metallica game."

Blizzard has also announced that World of Warcraft will be licensed to NetEase in China after its agreement with The9, the company previously responsible for operating WoW in the country, expired.

"We believe this new relationship will promote a consistent level of quality and service in mainland China for each of the games that Blizzard Entertainment is partnering with NetEase on, including Warcraft III and StarCraft II, as announced last year,” said Kotick.

“In addition, we believe this new relationship positions us well for the long-term, and despite the near-term impact of the transition, we are reaffirming our calendar 2009 financial outlook."

The publisher has forecast earnings of $4.2 billion in net revenues and earnings of $0.22 per share on a GAAP basis for the calendar year.

The next issue of Edge magazine, E202, out on May 7, will feature a reveal of a brand new Activision property.