Tag Archives: Activision Blizzard

Say whatever you want about Activision Blizzard, but one thing’s for sure: gaming’s premier publishing powerhouse is never boring. Whether it’s Bobby Kotick tying the industry to a table and rambling on about his diabolical plans to suck the fun out of development or the recent Infinity Ward fiasco, there’s never a dull moment in the house that Modern Warfare added an extra wing onto.

Today’s Q1 2010 financial call was no different, and as a result, did not disappoint. See all the fireworks after the break.

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The first reviews of Tony Hawk: Ride have started to trickle in, and sprained ankles and bruised egos seem to be the name of the game here. Well, mostly. So, is this the large plastic, skateboard-shaped nail in the Tony Hawk franchise’s coffin? Let’s take a look.

• Game Informer – 5.75/10
• G4 – 1/5 (!)
• Planet Xbox 360 – 9/10 (!!!)

G4 and Planet Xbox 360 both conducted their reviews at a day-long event last weekend. According to G4, though, they had plenty of time to finish the game.

If you happen to come across any more reviews of Tony Hawk’s latest effort, drop us a line and we’ll add them to the list.

11.5 million’s not a number to sneeze at, but Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick thinks Blizzard’s next MMO can go even “broader” than that. He briefly spoke about the untitled, un-detailed, un-everything-else-traditionally-associated-with-a-game MMO during the recent Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco.

“What we’ve announced at Blizzard is that we have Starcraft [II] coming, Diablo has been in production…and a new, unannounced MMO that has a little more broad appeal,” he said.

Broader than WoW? The real world is doomed.

More at GameSpot.

If a number of listings from major US retailers are to be believed, then yes. GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy all have Modern Warfare 2 listed at the PC-unfriendly price of $60.

Only Walmart’s still asking $50 for Activision Blizzard’s next cash cow. But no one ever tells Walmart anything. It’s not cool.

We’ve sent an email over to Activision to confirm this expensive turn of events.

Thanks, Joystiq.

IncGamers reckon it is. The site is reporting that GAPP – the firm responsible for authorising World of Warcraft – has almost finishing doing whatever it is it does and that the games should go live again in China soon.

Apparently, there’s a bit of violent conduct that needs to be removed and then everything will be hunky dory again.

The MMO that has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, has been offline in the region since June 7.

Activision Q4 2008 numbers are rolling in. Here’s what we know so far.

• Reported a net loss of $72 million, or 5 cents a share.

• Adjusted revenue was $2.3 billion which was much more than they predicted, and more than $2.15 billion which Wall Street estimated.

• Forecasting  a 2009 adjusted profit of 61 cents per share for adjusted revenue of $4.7 billion for 2009 (includes negative impact of $400 million from a stronger US  dollar).

• Guitar Hero World Tour and Call of Duty: World at War games were the No. 1 and No. 2 console games, respectively, in North America and Europe in the fourth quarter, according to NPD.

• World of Warcraft was the top-selling PC game in those regions 2008.

Call is still on going so more will be announced soon, so stick with us.

(Reuters)

Following the release of fourth quarter financials, Bobby Kotick has said that Activision is not planning on going the layoff route most publishers are suffering at present.

“We won’t be distracted by layoffs and restructuring and things that other companies are going to be distracted with,” Kotick told Reuters in an interview.

“We don’t respond to managing our operating expenses because there’s a financial crisis, we do it all the time.”

Activision reported a net loss of $72 million for Q4 2008.