You don't say: Guitar Hero III bringing in the big bucks

Earlier today, Activision announced Q2 revenues of $318 million, a 69% increase on the same period last year.

Now, those figures alone are worthy of applause, if that kind of thing floats your boat. However, the recent release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Wii (and, y'know, some otherconsoles you may have heard of) is tipped to boost Q3 earnings to unprecedented levels, with many expecting Activision to shatter the $1 billion mark in net revenue. And sure enough, despite the odd issue, the game has made a fine start in the US, with Activision crowing today about first week revenues of $115m.

Of course, it's not exclusively the Wii version of Guitar Hero III that will have contributed to that mind-boggling number, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will have played its part, thanks to the sheer ubiquity of the Wii, not to mention its popularity at social occasions. So "yay" for the Wii, "yay" for Guitar Hero, and "yay" for capitalism. A winning combination.

Incidentally, don't forget that Legends of Rock headbangs its way into Australasia tomorrow, while Europeans will be rocking out from November 23.

[Via Joystiq]