Triple Release Steers Activision To Success News

Activision has today confirmed a significant jump in revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 as well as a positive turnaround in net income, despite releasing just three titles in Europe - and only in North America - in the three month period, which ended on September 30th.

The triple bill of titles (Transformers: The Game, Guitar Hero II: Rocks the 80s, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) helped push the publisher's revenues up by 66% on the year from $188.2 million (£90.2 million) to $317.7 million (£152.4 million). Activision also recorded a net income of $0.7 million (£0.3 million), a change in fortune on the year compared to a net loss of $24.3 million (£11.7 million) in the second quarter of fiscal year 2007. The financial jump is also reflected in the company's six-month results, with net revenues of $813.2 million (£390.0 million) from $376.2 million (£180.4 million).

Besides the release of the three games over the summer period, the second quarter also saw Activision take a leap into the acquisition market, picking up Project Gotham Racing developers Bizarre Creations.

Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO of Activision, stated, "Our second quarter net revenues were the highest in our company's history and we ended the quarter with $962 million in cash and short-term investments. We significantly strengthened our development capabilities through our acquisition of Bizarre Creations, a proven top-tier developer of racing games which will facilitate our entry into this important segment." Kotick continued, "During Q3, we shipped more units of our internally developed, wholly owned franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, than any other game in Activision's history. Within the first seven days, consumer sell through was more than $100 million in North America alone -- our largest product launch ever. Our third-quarter slate is expected to deliver our strongest quarterly results to date, with forecasted net revenues in excess of $1 billion. The eagerly anticipated Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will launch tomorrow, and all of our holiday titles in North America will be in retail distribution by mid-week. We are continuing to leverage our strong portfolio of franchises across key geographies and gaming platforms. As a result of our strong performance in the first six months of the fiscal year, and our solid third quarter release slate, we are raising our fiscal year 2008 net revenues and earnings outlook."