The company behind Call of Duty and Candy Crush is soaring after reporting record revenue

Activision Blizzard is up 17.81% at $46.17 a share after reporting fourth-quarter earnings following Thursday's closing bell.

The gaming company posted record quarterly revenue despite a slump in sales of its Call of Duty video game.

Its multiplayer hero shooter game Overwatch reached 25 million players globally over 2016 and helped drive revenues to a record $6.61 billion for the year ended December 31.

Those sales are up 42% compared to 2015, and Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said the Overwatch game has only scratched the surface.

Activision Blizzard acquired Candy Crush maker King in February 2016 to flesh out its mobile game strategy.

Earnings for the year were $1.28 per share, up from $1.19 in the previous year.

As the company becomes increasingly focused on digital strategies and games as a service, Activision Blizzard highlighted its 447 million monthly active users during the quarter, driven by mobile unit King.

On the earnings call, Activision COO Thomas Tippl said the company has 5 of the top 10 games on live streaming video platform Twitch and expects Call of Duty sales to rise in 2017.

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