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Guitar Hero, Call of Duty franchises lead Activision's 'better-than-expected' Q3 2009
Look, just feign surprise, it makes these financial posts so much more exciting: Activision today reported net revenues of $755 million (on a non-GAAP basis) in the quarter ending September 30, 2009 -- that's $55 million more than the suits hoped to stack, according to previous projections. While the blockbuster adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have played a part in this outpouring of our money, we're gonna go with Kotick's explanation: "Our performance was driven by positive audience response to Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft." In fact, the CEO called Guitar Hero the year's "#1 best-selling third-party franchise in North America and Europe" through September, claiming that U.S. sales of music games increased 72 percent year over year in September. Last year's big-band-box edition, World Tour, and Call of Duty: World at War combined for total, world domination, becoming this year's "#1 and #2 best-selling third-party titles" in North America and Europe through September, according to Activision. Additionally, World at War DLC map pack sales continued to climb last quarter and have now surpassed 7.5 million purchases. Needless to say, the publisher is not backing off of its prior financial outlook. Activision anticipates annual net revenues of $4.5 billion (on a non-GAAP basis) at the close of the year. Did you remember to feign surprise?
Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Van Zandt pop some culture in newest WoW commercials
Blizzard is apparently a marketing genius, because the most recent World of Warcraft commercials are new high watermarks. Of course the're all about Wrath of the Lich King, and of course they feature famous people pretending they play WoW. But they're also something else: completely awesome. We've got Ozzy Osbourne arguing with Arthas over who's the real Prince of Darkness and then we've got The Sopranos actor Steve Van Zandt opining about being pulled back into the game. Love 'em or hate 'em, these commercials are pure brilliance for their humor and ability to convey the social acceptance -- or "coolness", if you will -- of tapping away at your mouse and keyboard all night long. Of course, if Blizzard really wants to impress us, they'd get Neil Patrick Harris. Nobody pimps a product like NPH. Find both videos after the break.
