Tony Hawk: RIDE could be considered one of the biggest videogame flops of 2009. It came packed with a big and complex skateboard peripheral and was meant to mark the return to form of the long running Tony Hawk franchise, with natural motion used to perform moves that would then be translated into tricks on the screen.

Even if Tony Hawk himself talked about how good the game was and the company backed the game with a marketing blitz, RIDE only managed to sell 114,000 units in its first month on sales, on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

Despite the apparent failure, Activision seems to be determined, as with the DJ Hero spinoff, to make Tony Hawk: RIDE a success, announcing that a second game in the series was in development and set to arrive in 2010.

Mike Griffith, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Activision Publishing, told analysts that the skateboard peripheral shipped with the game was the cause of a “long hardware development process,” which in turn meant “less time to develop the software” was available.

Still, the company leader observed that the “premise of standing on a skateboard [...] is very compelling” and would be further refined as the series progressed. The publisher believes there is clear potential in the RIDE concept and that better performing software will make the fake skateboard itself more easy to use and allow for more impressive moves to be performed.

The dodged determination Activision seems to be displaying when it comes to turning Tony Hawk: RIDE into a successful franchise could perhaps be used to put together a new intellectual property that may shift more than 114,000 units in its first month. If the sequel that arrives this year performs as bad as the 2009 game, then the publisher will probably shelve it for good.