DailyTech - Activision Reports Positive Financial Outlook Thanks to "Guitar Hero"

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Software Activision Reports Positive Financial Outlook Thanks to "Guitar Hero"
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 7, 2007 12:12 PM

15 comment(s) - last by InsaneGain.. on Nov 8 at 2:14 PM

Activision to hit $1B revenue for current quarter

Game developers are discovering that mass appeal, casual market games is where the money is. Activision on Monday posted a small second quarter net profit, exceeding the expectations of investors. Activision’s main competitor EA reported a 195 million dollar loss during the quarter.

Activision claims its third quarter results will be even better, thanks in part to the performance of Guitar Hero III. In its first seven days at retail, Guitar Hero III generated more than $100 million, making it the second biggest game release of the year. Top sales honors still belong to Halo 3, which raked in $170 million on the first day, leading to $300 million throughout the first week.

Of course, the numbers of Guitar Hero III and Halo 3 are not directly comparable, as one game is offered on every system available, while the other is an exclusive Xbox 360 title. Both games shipped with more than one SKU, making it further unique from the traditional $60 software release.

While revenue for the second quarter amounted to $317.7 million, Activision expects its third quarter to hit $1 billion. The chart-topping staying power of the Guitar Hero franchise coupled with the thus-far positive reception of Call of Duty 4 give Activision a lot to look forward to during the upcoming holiday buying season.

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congratz

By Moishe on 11/7/2007 12:53:12 PM , Rating: 2

Make a good, innovative product that a lot of people want and make money. Ta-da!

Too bad for EA... I'm surprised that they would lose money considering their size and weight. On the other hand they do have a fairly bad rep...

RE: congratz

By Lord 666 on 11/7/2007 1:06:01 PM , Rating: 3

Being that it is Guitar Hero III , its not so much as innovative than decent improvements such as the guitar and variety of music.

However, I picked up Call of Duty 4 last night; its good but not innovative. Focused on the campaign and have not done multiplayer yet, but the beginning is annoying because I could not fast foward the opening credits/execution scene. They are even using the same quotes as in COD2/3 when you die.

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RE: congratz

By therealnickdanger on 11/7/2007 1:25:15 PM , Rating: 4

This is only my opinion, but I'm certain that others share it. When I want a sequel, I don't want a whole lot of innovation - I actually do want MORE of the SAME. I liked the game because it had certain qualities. When a developer bypasses those qualities in order to "innovate", it quickly becomes a different game entirely. Yes, I'm going to play the Halo card.

I love Halo1 in nearly every aspect. My only gripe ever when playing it was "it's not on Live!". Fortunately, XBConnect served me very well for a long time. Literally, though, it was perfect. For the sequel, I wanted more of the same. I wanted to continue the story and get more multiplayer maps, but I wanted the underpinnings to remain just as solid as the original. Sadly, Halo2 was different in nearly every way possible and no longer "felt" like Halo. Sure, it had a shiny wrapper on it that screamed "Halo!", but I hated it.

On that note, let's take a look at Perfect Dark (N64). It took the awesome game that was GoldenEye, stuck to the core mechanics and features, but then ADDED more on to it. It wasn't even the story or universe, but it was so obviously a "sequel". Rare innovated without betraying the foundation of the game.

</rant>

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RE: congratz

By therealnickdanger on 11/7/2007 1:27:00 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Rare innovated without betraying the foundation of the game.

I meant "improved".

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RE: congratz

By Moishe on 11/7/2007 1:49:40 PM , Rating: 2

exactly...

like the Thief games.... the same basic gameplay with some minors updates + better graphics + new story. Too much getting wild and wiggly with a popular game can really produce something nobody wants.

GH III may not be very innovative in itself, but the whole series certainly is.

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RE: congratz

By afkrotch on 11/7/2007 4:51:08 PM , Rating: 2

Ya, Guitar Hero was so innovative, that it essentially stole everything from Guitar Freaks.

Guitar Freaks came out in Feb 1999 and has had 19 versions available for arcades and 9 version for the Playstation and Playstation 2. Only problem was that it was never released outside of Asia. I'm guessing cost to license music for the game and alter the game to match just wasn't worth it to them.

Guitar Hero came out in Nov 2005. Course Harmonix worked with Konami to Karaoke Revolution series. Then essentially stole what Guitar Freaks was.

Now Harmonix has Rock Band. Another non-innovative move. They essentially took the idea from Konami again. Konami has GuitarFreaks and DrumMania. Those systems could link together to allow 2 guitarists and one drummer to play together. Not only that you could add in a keyboard player with the game Keyboardmania, which could also link in. They simply didn't add in a vocalist.

Wonder how much longer til Harmonix steals Beatmania.

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RE: congratz

By Axbattler on 11/7/2007 7:45:54 PM , Rating: 2

I don't question that Guitar Freaks was first, but the success of Guitar Hero does say a lot meeting what players wanted. Whether it is the possibility of playing the game without having to import, the choice of songs, or subtle variation in game and controller, Konami had almost 7 years to perfect the game and it's distribution in such manner that people would just look at Guitar Hero as some wannabe clone.

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RE: congratz

By therealnickdanger on 11/8/2007 8:44:35 AM , Rating: 2

Intel, Transmeta, and AMD are all innovative, but they all sell the same products essentially. Innovation doesn't imply originality, but rather the ability to continously improve something - in this case in order to make it accessible and appealing to the masses.

BTW, did anyone catch South Park last night?

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RE: congratz

By InsaneGain on 11/8/2007 2:14:03 PM , Rating: 2

I've never heard of Guitar Freaks or DrumMania until now. I checked it out on Wikipedia and yeah, it looks just like Guitar Hero, along with the color coded fret buttons and the guitar tilt function for bonus points. The Rock Band drums look like the drums from DrumMania with the color coded drums and the single foot pdeal for the bass.
Konami couldn't bring it to the U.S. because it looks like a company called MTV Drumscape held a patent for "drum simulation games" as well as any other music simulation games. How can someone get such a broad patent?
Anyway I can't wait to try the drums in Rock Band.

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RE: congratz

By AlphaVirus on 11/7/2007 1:26:09 PM , Rating: 2

EA is exactly that, a larger overweight company. They have much more expenses and if they dont get enough revenue then problems occur. Soon we will start seeing layoffs.

The Guitar game is fun, period. It has everything a casual gamer would like and anything an enthusiast would want. Its interactive and well thought out. Rock being one of the largest genres, they planted the ride seed.

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RE: congratz

By PrezWeezy on 11/7/2007 2:21:39 PM , Rating: 5

"EA Games! ...ruin everything..."

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Rock band

By koenshaku on 11/7/2007 2:41:32 PM , Rating: 2

Rock band may stunt the sells it looks to be bring a lot to the table, with the entire band idea at least it managed to get my interest.

RE: Rock band

By therealnickdanger on 11/7/2007 3:17:49 PM , Rating: 2

Now that I know that my guitars from GH2 and GH3 will work with RB, it sounds more realistic to try it out. So all I need to purchase is the game, a mic, and the drum... There goes another $100... However, I was disappointed to see some of the same songs from GH on RB. It's pretty lame to pay for the same content, even if it's only a couple tracks.

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Breakdown by Console

By nayy on 11/7/2007 3:13:48 PM , Rating: 2

It would be nice to see the sales breakdown by console to see how Wii and 360 measure against each other. I would expect it to be close race, but I could be wrong.

RE: Breakdown by Console

By SirLucius on 11/7/2007 5:56:15 PM , Rating: 2

The funny thing is that PS2 version probably still beats out both. Especially since for a lot of people all they had to pick up was the game itself. No need for another controller.

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