Activision Q3 sales leap 80 percent

Guitar Hero publisher boasts record sales of $1.48 billion, ups yearly projections, praises hot sales of COD4 and GHIII.

At the beginning of December, Vivendi and Activision announced the biggest union in gaming history as the two became one with the snappy moniker Activison Blizzard. The deal, which was valued at some $18.9 billion, created the world's biggest third-party game publisher.

At the end of January, Vivendi reported what will likely be its last set of separate financials for subsidiary Blizzard, which saw the World of Warcraft developer pulling in its first billion-dollar year for sales.

Now it's Activision's turn, and the other half of the newly formed alliance wasn't about to be beaten--the company's financial third quarter ended December 31 has borne net revenues of more than $1.48 billion. This is a massive 80 percent jump from the same period in the company's previous financial year of $824.3 million. Net income was almost double the amount made in the same period in 2006, this year punching in at $272.2 million, compared to $142.8 million.

For the total nine months in the company's financial year so far, the numbers are currently crunching at $2.3 billion (compared to $1.2 billion in the previous nine-month period), and net income more than tripled to $300.7 million, compared to $100.2 million.

Activision named six games as being big hits and driving sales: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Spider-Man, Shrek the Third, and Transformers: The Game. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the best-selling title in terms of units sold in Europe, North America, and PAL regions for Activision in 2007, when it shifted over 7 million copies. Guitar Hero III, on the other hand, was number one in terms of dollars made.

In general, the future is looking bright for video games, Activison CEO Bobby Kotick commented in a statement. He said, "Broader audiences are responding to products like Guitar Hero, and we expect that the demographics for video games will continue to expand." He also added that this was now the 16th consecutive year that sales were up for the company.

Console sales provided the lion's share of Activision's sales, bringing in $1.1 billion this quarter, compared to $96 million for handhelds, and $88 million for PC game sales. The Xbox 360 bought in the highest percentage of sales at 33 percent, followed by stalwart the PlayStation 2 with 25 percent, then the PlayStation 3 with 14 percent, and the Wii with 12 percent.

The merger between Activision and Vivendi is still on track, the company reports, with the deal expected to be finalized before the end of the June.

Activision amended its projections for a third time on the back of this report--the company now expects full fiscal 2008 net revenues of $2.65 billion, and earnings per diluted share of 97 cents.

66 Comments

  • Malakie24

    Posted Feb 12, 2008 6:00 am GMT

    It is to bad that Piracy has limited them from ONLY making 1.48 BILLION... for a single quarter!! Such a shame that piracy is hitting them so hard as everyone says piracy is doing.... I hope they are able to afford to buy enough food to sustain themselves and perhaps get some help paying the rent since piracy has obviously killed their bottom line...

    hurts the small, indy devs for sure, but these monster companies are not hurting at all.. tired of hearing them complain when I see numbers like this and we end up paying more and more for each new game.

    I also noticed something else.. 1.1 bil in console sales! I hate console, I am a PC gamer... If the trend continues like that, devs are gonna give up on the PC just because of the money... 88 million in PC sales, 1.1 billion console..... not to hard to figure out what market you should be concentrating on... and that sucks because consoles are just not my thing especially for strategy and RPG..

  • guertt

    Posted Feb 11, 2008 6:33 am GMT

    They should keep in the way of modern warfare!!! forget about wwII

  • CasinoOutlaw247

    Posted Feb 11, 2008 4:09 am GMT

    Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare = $$$ and it was a well MADE game not well "maded" anyway, I wish the next version wasn't World War II! please give it a rest!

  • _Piranha_

    Posted Feb 11, 2008 1:06 am GMT

    " Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ".. yeah cool ! game..
    Q.2008-2009 --> Call of Duty 5 ???, Return To Castle Wolfenstein II (RtCW.2) ???

  • Dark_Lord777

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 10:06 pm GMT

    wow Guitar Hero has become very mainstream! when south park parodies something, you know its popular.

  • ColdGen

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 6:51 pm GMT

    Onya Activision! And God Bless Infinity Ward!

  • mohammadan

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 6:37 pm GMT

    special thanx to infinity ward !

  • athenian29

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 5:04 pm GMT

    Lol "followed by stalwart the Playstation 2..." typos are funny.

  • athenian29

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 4:57 pm GMT

    Bravo Activision! Go out with a bang!

  • two_times

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 4:42 pm GMT

    Infinity Ward>Activision

  • Rowr14

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 2:31 pm GMT

    dont set your hopes to high on cod 5 people, it will most likely be passed on to treyarch, (as was the terrible 3rd title) while infinity ward work on cod 6.

    I can already see it selling way to many copies purely off the reputation of 4.

    Maybe we will get lucky and someone capable will make it, so its not outright terrible.

  • xtremeskiia15

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 10:05 am GMT

    Gamespot forgot to mention that Activision also said xbox360 outsells ps3 in contrary to EA's last prediction. Keep in mind Activision actually has a bases for their predictions since they actually had a great Q3 as opposed to EA's quarter where they lost a significant amount of money.

  • kalkhaja

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 9:16 am GMT

    well done activision.... activision-blizzard FTW!

  • 04JETTA

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 9:00 am GMT

    dang i know where i should invest my monies

  • winfield_redfox

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 3:27 am GMT

    Just cause the gamespot. people think of it as percentages and industries doesn't mean that it involves any one of you or me, games are rated here with regards to hollywood and graphics..... not talent present here in some other fields........ its a sad loop.

  • sickside6

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 4:42 pm GMT

    Well they are going to be the biggest company in gaming history

  • Ozzie234

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 4:25 pm GMT

    Or do a WWI game. Sit in the trench, whistle blows, all go over the top, 75% get shot, the rest retreat OR takes the next trench....and repeat.

    How bout that? Would rock.

  • hazelnutman

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 3:29 pm GMT

    funny how they can't see simple statistics.

    no WWII = more money

  • SrTVBR

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 2:43 pm GMT

    All this because the well maded CoD4...

  • NyGin07

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 11:08 am GMT

    prepare for the milking of many franchises. expect guitar hero and call of duty to go the way of tony hawk.

  • Toshan1337

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 10:13 am GMT

    Good for them! Use that money to make your games even better!

  • Merl57

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 9:55 am GMT

    I will laugh when the day people actually consider videogames for the amount of potential they actually have not only in art but as an economic force not really effected by the rest of the market as much as other things are

  • okassar

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 6:28 am GMT

    Ya,I praise Activision for COD4,truly amazing.Lol,and what's that,the most games being bought are for 360.That says something.People actually stick to their 360 :p...Lolz,12 percent for the Wii,which has the most systems out and lowest percentage.That means it sucks,haha :p

  • goku365

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 12:23 am GMT

    they make good games

  • BigSmitts07

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 7:09 pm GMT

    i hate spending money, but its no problem when your pumping games out of such high calibur....this news isnt much of a shock lol

  • extrmgamer2

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 4:55 pm GMT

    well when you make games like COD4 and GHIII what do you expect? These games are amazing innovations, and the story in COD4 was awesome, it sucked me in completely and the online battles are 10/10. I just hope that the sequels to these games will be equally as entertaining,

  • CodyTG

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 4:30 pm GMT

    Maybe CoD5 should be a Vietnam game? If they make it as good as CoD4, a vietnam style game would kick ass.

  • kingrich06

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 4:20 pm GMT

    if they keep up the good work they keep getting my $$$$

  • Legend002

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 3:57 pm GMT

    Nice boost for activision.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 3:33 pm GMT

    Activision has always had a Call of Duty game out toward the end of the year since 2003, but the 4th quarter 2007 sales included their first time publishing a Guitar Hero game, so of course their sales skyrocketed.

  • YunalescaFFX

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 1:48 pm GMT

    @blackace LOL poor you!

    Where I live there's like tons piled up at the floor... I can find PS3 as well but no PS2

  • blackace

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 1:23 pm GMT

    I still can't find a copy of Guitar Hero III w/ guitar for the XBox 360 anywhere. I see the PS2, PS3 and PC versions everywhere, but can't find the XBox 360 version. What's up with that Activision?

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 12:32 pm GMT

    that's awesome that they're doing so good, happy for them

  • YourDaddy88

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 12:31 pm GMT

    Stop COD5 from going back to WWII...NOW!!!!!!!!

    Do more present day conflicts like COD4 in different world areas/settings, go slightly into the future but not too far, or go pre-WWII, like revolutionary war or something - that would be cool IMO - redcoats.

  • Crypto111

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 12:27 pm GMT

    Interesting

  • ghost867

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 12:26 pm GMT

    Most of this is GH3 and COD4 sales. It'd be stupid to try and pin this on any other game, since without those do I don't think Activision would be in the black by much.

    It's great that they're doing well, hopefully we can continue to see high quality stuff from these guys. I don't want to all the sudden see 4 Guitar Hero games this year and a crappy COD game on 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP, Mac, and Mobile.

  • Bodboy466

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 9:55 am GMT

    With COD4 and Guitar Hero 3 I'm not really surprised.

  • prioritymail

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 8:54 am GMT

    I wonder why they are making so much money?

  • MrOrmond

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 5:30 am GMT

    I only bought GH3, and expect one less sale if GH4 is as equally screwed up, but you don't care anyway since your games sell faster than jesus cakes. lol!

  • LordReithgar

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 1:48 am GMT

    It does seem Activision doesn,t need my support to earn money as I didn't bought any titles mentioned lol.

  • IIBlackknightII

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 12:11 am GMT

    I bought Spider-Man,Transformers: The Game,Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.Its Awesome.

  • darknferno12

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 11:19 pm GMT

    sales leap 80% well It only takes i don't know some good games (in this case great COD4, GH) in this time of mediocre games is it a shock to see good games bring in good sales?

  • foxracing1313

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 9:24 pm GMT

    heh well im not gonna lie two out of the three games I bought this year were COD4 and GHIII. Go Activision.

  • 7_armageddon_7

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 8:14 pm GMT

    "Pretty big load of cash. At least its good EA isn't getting that money. Activision should be the next EA." - Edwar1211

    I am assuming you mean in terms of size and income, and not in terms of number of multiplatform games released, number of rushed releases or its many other detrimental trends?

  • ahahaG

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:38 pm GMT

    guitar hero 3 is ok. COD4 is awesome, but i give credit on COD4 to infinity ward for creating. Activision can blow me so many times it's not even funny. If anyone owns a ps3 and rock band , hates the stratocaster, and wants to play with a les paul like people who own a 360 can, then you would feel the same way. there's no excuse for favoring the 360 in a stupid way without realizing it. but what i don't understand, is they said they wanted compensation for the les paul to work on the ps3, but look how much money they made! ridiculous

  • link631

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:34 pm GMT

    wow

  • Edward1211

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:26 pm GMT

    Pretty big load of cash. At least its good EA isn't getting that money. Activision should be the next EA.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:23 pm GMT

    thats a big jump.

  • xXHackettXx

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:15 pm GMT

    Good for them, i'm loving COD4.

  • bigmick07

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:12 pm GMT

    i didn't know there were 2 ps2's....... nice ty-po gamespot.

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