Activision Q3 Profits up on Guitar Hero, Call of Duty

Activision Blizzard announced a profit for the third quarter, thanks to two important events: a reduction in costs and strong sales of titles like Guitar Hero 5. Shares rose 2 percent in afternoon trading on the news. The company also predicted lower fourth quarter numbers than what Wall Street expected, despite the pending release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which ships next Tuesday.

For the third quarter, Activision reported a net income of $15 million - 1 cent per share - compared with a net loss of $108 million - 8 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Net revenue dipped 1 percent in Q3 to $703 million. Excluding revenue that was deferred from the sale of certain titles, the company said revenue for the period would have been right around $755 million.

In the quarter Activision Blizzard increased its U.S. and European share 1.2 points over the previous year across all platforms to 12.3 percent and had two of the top-10 best-selling titles in the U.S.: Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero World Tour, according to retail sales data from NPD Group (U.S.) and Charttrack and Gfk (Europe).

The top selling games for the quarter were Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and older versions of Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and - of course - World of Warcraft.

For the fourth quarter, Activision is predicting earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $2.22 billion, on a non-GAAP basis. Analysts were expecting earnings of 44 cents a share on revenue of $2.3 billion. The fourth quarter will include the release of Modern Warfare 2, Tony Hawk: Ride, DJ Hero and Band Hero.

DJ Hero sponsors Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced today that it has partnered with Activision Publishing and sponsor Target to feature DJ Hero on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 1 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 17.

At the race, Target is doing a little marketing, letting fans take DJ Hero for a spin 10 days before its launch at the Target DJ Hero station located on “The Fan Midway” across the street from Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Truex Jr. will test his DJ Hero mixing and scratching skills at the Target DJ Hero station on Saturday, October 17 from 3:30 – 4:00pm ET.

NASCAR fans should also tune into ABC on Saturday, October 17 at 2:30 pm ET to watch Martin Truex Jr. and the DJ Hero Team as they compete against 43 of the world’s best racers at NASCAR’s home track in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fans should look for a DJ Hero paint scheme.

Available in North America on October 27, 2009, DJ Hero is being developed by FreeStyleGames for Xbox 360, the PS3 and PlayStation 2 and the Wii. The game is rated “T” (Teen – Mild Suggestive Themes, Lyrics) by the ESRB.

DJ Hero talent found dead in NYC apartment

Adam Goldstein, known to the music world as DJ AM, was found dead in his New York City apartment on Friday, according to a report in the New York Times. Goldstein was working with Activision on its upcoming music mash-up title, DJ Hero - a spin-off of sorts from its Guitar Hero series of music games.

The cause of death is undetermined at this time, though several conflicting reports mention hint at it being drug related. Goldstein had in the past talked about being addicted to alcohol, cocaine and crack and had attempted to commit suicide when he was in his 20’s in a 2007 interview with the NYT, but had said he was living a clean lifestyle and had turned his life around.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of DJ AM,” said Activision’s vice president of music affairs Tim Riley. “We hope that his work on the game will be a fitting tribute to his creative spirit and musical talent.”

Activision’s DJ Hero web site is currently hosting a tribute to DJ Am, featuring interviews with him talking about his music and the club scene and his passion for his art - www.djhero.com.

Image and Story Source: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images / NYT via Game | Life

Activision reveals new details on various ‘Hero’ games

Activision announced today that five live downloadable tracks from the 1969 concert by The Rolling Stones will be digitally released for Guitar Hero 5, to coincide with ABKCO ’s 40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set release of GET YER YA-YA’S OUT.

In Europe, from launch day through January 6, 2010, “Satisfaction (Live),” “Under My Thumb (Live)” and “I’m Free (Live)” will be released as singles exclusively via Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360. Two additional live tracks, “Prodigal Son (Live)” and “You Gotta Move (Live)” will also be available at launch as downloads on Xbox LIVE, the PlayStation Store and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for Wii.

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Genius Products Sues Activision

Genius Products,  the company behind Scratch: Ultimate DJ, has filed a lawsuit against Activision and 7 Studios. Activision is working on its own DJ game and is in direct competition with Genius Products after first attempting to purchase the game. Genius claims that “Activision and 7 Studios have conspired to withhold the current version of Scratch in an effort to delay the development and release of Scratch and to gain access to proprietary technology.”

So, What does all this mean? Allegedly, after Activision had offered to buy Scratch and were turned down, they bought the company Genius had contracted to develop their game, 7 Studios. At that point, Activision and 7 Studios conspired to delay the release of Scratch.

The lawsuit states that “Activision has engaged in intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets obtained from Genius to purchase 7 Studios.” The suit is seeking damages, the games immediate return and “other injunctive relief.” If the claims turn out to be true, which is a big “if,” why does Activision feel the need to delay the competition?

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RedOctane’s New Boss

Activision Publishing announced this morning that Dan Rosensweig has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of RedOctane, the division behind the company’s popular Guitar Hero franchise and the upcoming DJ Hero. Rosensweig will oversee Guitar Hero’s global operations including game development, hardware manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and marketing and will report directly to Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing.

Kai Huang, former President and CEO of RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles Huang created Guitar Hero, will continue working at RedOctane reporting to Rosensweig. I wonder what’s up with that..

Prior to joining the company, Rosensweig was Chief Operating Officer of Yahoo! (2002 - 2006) where he oversaw the company’s worldwide operations. Prior to that he worked at Ziff Davis 18 years as president of the online and print magazine publisher.

Activision Tops in 2008

 Activision Blizzard posted a net loss for the fourth quarter, but the good news is that most of it was due to accounting rules for deferred revenue. The company did manage to beat the street’s expectations on sales of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Guitar Hero: World Tour, and Call of Duty: World at War, which were strong performers during the Christmas shopping season. For the quarter that ended on Dec. 31, 2008, Activision reported a net loss of $72 million, compared to earnings of $86 million, for the same period a year ago.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said during the earnings call that followed  that 2008 was the company’s 17th consecutive year of growth and that operating income was up 20 percent from the previous year.  Activision ended the year with $3 billion in cash and no debt.

The company also said that it would only be introducing three new original IPs in 2009:  Raven’s first-person shooter Singularity, an unnamed racing game from Bizarre Creations and Prototype. The rest of the company’s catalog will consist of familiar brands like Guitar Hero, and the next Call of Duty game. The company said that 2009 won’t see a new James Bond game - with talk of this new game being some type of driving - shooting game. Finally it was revealed that Blizzard will release at one title this year, though what it will be was not revealed.