atvi
Latest
Activision acquires Budcat for 'new game in the Guitar Hero franchise'
Franchise-loving publisher powerhouse Activision Blizzard announced today that it has acquired Budcat Creations, the studio responsible for all Guitar Hero titles on the PlayStation 2 since GH3. According to the press release, Budcat is "currently in development on a new game in the Guitar Hero franchise." Our guess is a PS2 port of the perpetually teased Guitar Hero Metallica.With the exception of one outlier (Aspyr Media, who ported GH3 to PC and Mac), Activision Blizzard has now locked in what we affectionately dub the "Guitar Hero sweatshop." With Neversoft at the helm, Budcat is working with PS2 and Vicarious Visions will be responsible for Wii and DS versions. At the time of acquisition, Budcat was also reportedly working on the Wii's Our House for publisher Majesco.
Red Octane's rags-to-riches story ends in acquisition [update 1]
Red Octane, publisher of the smash-hit Guitar Hero game was sitting in the ghetto of E3's Kentia Hall this time last year. Today, Activision announced that they'd be acquiring the company (and the Guitar Hero franchise along with it) in order to build an "early leadership position in music-based gaming." Cha-ching, hip swing. We're predicting that more publishers go on an acquisition jag during this time of lean. The console transition is cruel to publishers and developers both, but we gather that some publishers are still sitting on sizable warchests that they mean to put to use by snapping up smaller companies who've shown promise (or who hold the rights to hot franchises). Chances are, this also means that future iterations of Guitar Hero will launch on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (instead of the PlayStation only). [Thanks, CheapyD] [update 1: cleared up publisher/developer confusion in the first paragraph.]
What investors think of THQ today
THQ has outshone its games-publishing peers with a stock price (Nasdaq: THQI) that's actually gained in value over the last year. That's actually quite an accomplishment in an industry beset by fear that we're headed towards some sort of doomsday scenario during the difficult console transition period. (The graph above is from a report published by games industry analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak of Susquehanna Financial Group.) The graph shows how well THQ management has done insulating the stock from the shocks and jolts that have bruised its competitors. Best-selling THQ game Destroy All Humans has a lot to do with this.
What investors think of Activision today
Sometimes treading water is the best you can do. Compared to peers EA and Take-Two, Activision's management appears to have done a better job keeping their share price (Nasdaq: ATVI) above water despite the storm waters whipped up by the transition to next-generation gaming. The graph above depicts the one-year performance of Activision stock with callouts showing notable events (source: Susquehanna Financial Group analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak). This could be a reflection on the quality of the company's games. Call of Duty 2 has been a tremendous hit for the company, though recent earnings misses and announcements that 2007 revenues are likely to fall short of expectations have eroded investor confidence that the company's shares are a good investment at the moment.
