Activision Blizzard (ATVI) has had a rocky ride over the last year. The following chart illustrates the sideways motion of the video-game superstar's stock. The 52-week range has been a narrow one: the low is $9.93, and the high is $13. Lately, the shares have received a new burst of energy after falling to the $10 level in May. At the time of this writing (it's a little over one hour until the market closes up shop), a quote of $12.02 went by on my screen.

A catalyst currently exists for the publisher. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is set to be released on Tuesday. This is the highly-anticipated game from the Blizzard portion of the company. And when I say highly-anticipated, I mean it.

Oh, I am so depressed! I was thinking of buying Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) for an earnings trade, but unfortunately never got around to it. Those who did are pretty happy. The publisher released second-quarter results on Wednesday after the bell, and investors bid the stock over 10% higher today.

Adjusted revenues came in at a little over $800 million. Management's previous guidance called for $775 million to be booked. Adjusted earnings were 8 cents per share, 2 cents ahead of company expectations. According to Reuters, this was a penny better than what the actual analysts were forecasting.