14 DAY TRIAL // The Activision Blizzard of today is pretty much the Electronic Arts of yesterday, at least as far as business philosophies go. Even as EA is admitting that it needs to create something new and interesting, like Dead Space or Mirror's Edge, in order to expand the potential customer base, Activision Blizzard is saying that it will continue to focus on its key franchises in the coming years, with little investment in untested intellectual properties.
The Chief Financial Officer of Activision, Thomas Tippl, presented this strategy at the Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference that took place in New York. According to Gamasutra, Tippl stated that, “What you should expect from us is consistent with what we've done in the past. Growing the existing franchises we have the number one priority in the company's growth plan.”
The arguments the Activision man presented were linked to the way big franchises tended to “suck out the air” of the market, overshadowing all other releases and bringing in a lot of revenue to the company. In 2008, titles like Call of Duty: World at War and Guitar Hero were some of the main contributors to the revenue of the company. Tippl shared that, “The top franchises are grabbing a disproportionate market share and have been a big reason why Activision has been able to put up an unmatched track record of 17 years of growth. The strategy is working, and therefore you should not expect to see a change.”
Still, Activision is preparing to launch 3 new properties (names have not been provided) in 2009, which the company believes to be quite risky. Nevertheless, it plans to focus on the big titles and take full advantage of their ability to dominate the holiday shopping season. This, coupled with the smart decision the company has made to try to reduce development costs, will mean that 2009 is set to be another record year for Activision Blizzard, if Tippl is to be believed.