In a somewhat surprising move, Activision Blizzard, one of the biggest publishers on the market, has announced that it has made a profit for the fiscal quarter that ended on September 30. Beating expectations, the company saw 15 million dollars in profit as revenue was hovering around 700 million dollars. Analysts had predicted that the company would sell much less during the period, while in 2008, the company posted a loss of 108 million for the same time frame.

Bobby Kotick, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard, said that “Despite a challenging overall software market, the company grew its quarterly U.S. share by 3.1 points over the previous year to 13.3 percent. This success is the result of our focus on delivering the highest game quality and the best entertainment experiences possible for our consumers.”

The biggest franchises for the publisher were the Call of Duty series, Guitar Hero and, of course, the World of Warcraft MMO. The company continues to rely on big releases that come on an annual basis and has very little in the way of original intellectual property.

The current results mean that Activision is not modifying the guidance it has set for the whole of the fiscal year. Modern Warfare 2, the biggest game in its line up, should be released on November 10 and the publisher sees revenue of 1.33 billion dollars coming in during the fourth quarter and overall sales totaling more than 4 billion for the entire year. This numbers are heavily dependent on how both the new Modern Warfare and Guitar Hero perform in the run up to Christmas.

Activision is also preparing for a strong release line up in 2010, with games like a new Call of Duty, created by Treyarch, a fresh Guitar Hero and new entries in the Shrek and Spider Man series being prepared.