The music is over for Guitar Hero. Activision Blizzard announced on a conference call Wednesday that it plans to shutter its music game business. The move means that roughly 500 employees or 7 percent of the company's workforce will lose their jobs. The company will also end its lucrative Guitar Hero franchise. Read also: A Hard Day's Night for Music Videogames “Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011,” the company said in a financial...
- 2/9/2011
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
New York -- Former Yahoo top executive Dan Rosensweig will take charge of the "Guitar Hero" franchise.
Activision Publishing, a unit of video game giant Activision Blizzard, said Monday morning that Rosensweig has been named president and CEO of RedOctane, the business unit that handles the blockbuster game franchise.
Rosensweig will report directly to Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former boss of RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles created "Guitar Hero," will continue working at RedOctane and report to Rosensweig.
The new boss served as COO of Yahoo from 2002 through 2006.
Before that, he spent 18 years at publishing house Ziff Davis.
Most recently, starting in 2007, Rosensweig served as an operating principal at private investment firm Quadrangle Group.
Said Griffith: “With the addition of Dan’s proven operational expertise and leadership, we will continue expanding the franchise’s global footprint in new and innovative ways." He...
Activision Publishing, a unit of video game giant Activision Blizzard, said Monday morning that Rosensweig has been named president and CEO of RedOctane, the business unit that handles the blockbuster game franchise.
Rosensweig will report directly to Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former boss of RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles created "Guitar Hero," will continue working at RedOctane and report to Rosensweig.
The new boss served as COO of Yahoo from 2002 through 2006.
Before that, he spent 18 years at publishing house Ziff Davis.
Most recently, starting in 2007, Rosensweig served as an operating principal at private investment firm Quadrangle Group.
Said Griffith: “With the addition of Dan’s proven operational expertise and leadership, we will continue expanding the franchise’s global footprint in new and innovative ways." He...
- 3/24/2009
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The economy is so bad that even the company behind "Guitar Hero," the hottest video game franchise in the world, couldn't muster a profit in the holiday quarter.
Activision Blizzard on Wednesday posted a $72 million net loss in the fourth quarter, compared with an $86 million profit last year. It was the first full quarter for the company since its merger with Vivendi's game unit, so the comparison isn't perfect.
Excluding deferred revenue and some charges, the company would have earned $429 million on net revenue of $1.64 billion. Those numbers beat Wall Street forecasts, but Activision Blizzard offered gloomy 2009 guidance, causing the stock to fall 4% in after-hours trading after rising 1% to $9.48 in the regular session.
Activision Blizzard predicted revenue this year of $4.7 billion, about $500 million shy of what analysts were estimating.
The U.S. recession, though, could provide acquisition opportunities in the near future, executives said on a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
Activision Blizzard on Wednesday posted a $72 million net loss in the fourth quarter, compared with an $86 million profit last year. It was the first full quarter for the company since its merger with Vivendi's game unit, so the comparison isn't perfect.
Excluding deferred revenue and some charges, the company would have earned $429 million on net revenue of $1.64 billion. Those numbers beat Wall Street forecasts, but Activision Blizzard offered gloomy 2009 guidance, causing the stock to fall 4% in after-hours trading after rising 1% to $9.48 in the regular session.
Activision Blizzard predicted revenue this year of $4.7 billion, about $500 million shy of what analysts were estimating.
The U.S. recession, though, could provide acquisition opportunities in the near future, executives said on a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
- 2/11/2009
- by By Paul Bond
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nintendo's classic Super Mario Bros has topped a new poll of the 20 'best games in history'. More than 2,000 respondents picked the game, which was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. The survey, conducted by Onepoll, also saw other 'old-school' titles such as Donkey Kong and Sonic The Hedgehog perform well, along with modern-day releases Wii Sports and Guitar Hero. Onepoll spokesman John Sewell said: "This shows that classic games will live on forever in the hearts of computer game fans. "The gaming industry is getting more and more competitive, releasing more and more innovative games by the minute, (more)...
- 7/28/2008
- by By David Gibbon
- Digital Spy
UPDATED 4:07 p.m. PT, Feb. 15
NEW YORK -- Toys based on Warner Bros.' "Speed Racer" and "The Dark Knight", Lucasfilm's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and Marvel's "Hulk" are expected to be the biggest licensed entertainment hits at this year's Toy Fair, but the hottest toys of all might be those that unlock virtual worlds on the Web.
Other film properties expected to make a solid showing at Toy Fair, opening Sunday in Manhattan, are Dream?Works' "Kung Fu Panda", Marvel's "Iron Man", Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and Disney/ Pixar's "Wall-E".
With "Hannah Montana" hotter than ever and a live-action movie slated for 2009, Disney licensees will showcase product lines that also incorporate the trend toward music-themed toys, sparked not only by "Hannah" and Disney's other tween phenomenon "High School Musical" but also by such music-based video games as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Star". There also will be toys for "HSM" ahead of the October theatrical release of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."
This week's announcement that Lucasfilm will be releasing an animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" feature Aug. 15, ahead of the anticipated TV series that will air on Cartoon Network and TNT, also sparked excitement about toy lines based on the animated "Star Wars" look. There also will be toy lines based on Paramount's upcoming "Star Trek" movie as well as "Ugly Betty" dolls based on the hit ABC series.
Although the spate of toy recalls that rocked the industry occurred just a few months ago, toy company executives insist that the recalls are having no impact on the excitement level over Toy Fair or on their business with entertainment licensors and retailers.
"We're looking forward, not back, and we're committed to making sure everything we do is safe," said Doug Wadleigh, vp marketing entertainment brands at Mattel, which probably was hardest hit by the recalls.
NEW YORK -- Toys based on Warner Bros.' "Speed Racer" and "The Dark Knight", Lucasfilm's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and Marvel's "Hulk" are expected to be the biggest licensed entertainment hits at this year's Toy Fair, but the hottest toys of all might be those that unlock virtual worlds on the Web.
Other film properties expected to make a solid showing at Toy Fair, opening Sunday in Manhattan, are Dream?Works' "Kung Fu Panda", Marvel's "Iron Man", Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and Disney/ Pixar's "Wall-E".
With "Hannah Montana" hotter than ever and a live-action movie slated for 2009, Disney licensees will showcase product lines that also incorporate the trend toward music-themed toys, sparked not only by "Hannah" and Disney's other tween phenomenon "High School Musical" but also by such music-based video games as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Star". There also will be toys for "HSM" ahead of the October theatrical release of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."
This week's announcement that Lucasfilm will be releasing an animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" feature Aug. 15, ahead of the anticipated TV series that will air on Cartoon Network and TNT, also sparked excitement about toy lines based on the animated "Star Wars" look. There also will be toy lines based on Paramount's upcoming "Star Trek" movie as well as "Ugly Betty" dolls based on the hit ABC series.
Although the spate of toy recalls that rocked the industry occurred just a few months ago, toy company executives insist that the recalls are having no impact on the excitement level over Toy Fair or on their business with entertainment licensors and retailers.
"We're looking forward, not back, and we're committed to making sure everything we do is safe," said Doug Wadleigh, vp marketing entertainment brands at Mattel, which probably was hardest hit by the recalls.
- 2/15/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In a move likely to redraw the video game landscape, Vivendi has agreed to pay $9.8 billion to merge its Vivendi Games unit with Activision Inc. and take a controlling stake in the new firm, which will be called Activision Blizzard.
The new gaming giant would house such hit franchises as World of Warcraft -- the world's biggest massively multiplayer online role-playing game with more than 9.3 million subscribers -- Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, and it will match or overtake market leader Electronic Arts in key performance measures.
For example, the deal values Activision Blizzard at $18.9 billion. EA's market capitalization as of Friday stood at $17.7 billion.
Similarly, the merger partners' combined 2007 calendar year revenue is expected to reach $3.8 billion. EA has projected revenue of $3.35 billion-$3.65 billion for its current fiscal year that ends March 31, or around $4 billion when excluding certain factors.
Activision Blizzard executives on Sunday also touted the new entity's position as the most profitable gaming company around and said they will look to leverage Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music Group.
They also emphasized that the companies will bring together Activision's console strength in the U.S. and Europe with Vivendi Games' solid position in PC games and in Asia.
Activision Blizzard will continue to spend time and money on the important game-development process, which has become increasingly expensive. But the new firm will be less reliant on Hollywood licenses than Activision currently is, as the merged company generates approximately 70% of its revenue from owned franchises, compared to around 50% at Activision, which has produced games tied to the Transformers, Spider-Man and Shrek films, among others.
The new gaming giant would house such hit franchises as World of Warcraft -- the world's biggest massively multiplayer online role-playing game with more than 9.3 million subscribers -- Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, and it will match or overtake market leader Electronic Arts in key performance measures.
For example, the deal values Activision Blizzard at $18.9 billion. EA's market capitalization as of Friday stood at $17.7 billion.
Similarly, the merger partners' combined 2007 calendar year revenue is expected to reach $3.8 billion. EA has projected revenue of $3.35 billion-$3.65 billion for its current fiscal year that ends March 31, or around $4 billion when excluding certain factors.
Activision Blizzard executives on Sunday also touted the new entity's position as the most profitable gaming company around and said they will look to leverage Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music Group.
They also emphasized that the companies will bring together Activision's console strength in the U.S. and Europe with Vivendi Games' solid position in PC games and in Asia.
Activision Blizzard will continue to spend time and money on the important game-development process, which has become increasingly expensive. But the new firm will be less reliant on Hollywood licenses than Activision currently is, as the merged company generates approximately 70% of its revenue from owned franchises, compared to around 50% at Activision, which has produced games tied to the Transformers, Spider-Man and Shrek films, among others.
- 12/3/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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