Activision made $387 million up until June, versus EA's $365 million. This would be the first time somebody else has held the top third party publisher spot in ... well, a very long time. Activision's aquisition of Red Octane was obviously a smart move on their part, as the franchise is expected to break $1 billion in sales very soon and makes up a fifth of the company's revenue with $360 million in sales this year according to analysts. For the EA fanboys, don't worry, Madden still hasn't come out this year and that game always boosts EA's bottom line.
[Via Gamasutra]
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Madden alone is always the number one selling game every year, plus they have just about every '08 title still due out, Rock Band, Need for Speed Pro Sreet, My Sims, Medal of Honor, and the Simpsons.
They'll do fine.
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A lot of the current success seems built on the back of Harmonix, not Red Octane. It will be interesting to see if their results are sustainable beyond Guitar Hero 2.
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Yes, even with that gigantic time headstart.
There are tons of people who would buy a Wii just to play Galaxy, including 30 somethings with nostalgia. Don't expect H3 to sell outside of the 12-24 yr old male market.
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Halo 3 will undoubtedly outsell Mario Galaxy; I think more Wii owners are excited for SSBB over it, even.
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But on topic: Yes, this will be temporary, but its nice to see EA dethroned, at least temporarily. Peter Moore always seems to be going to a group that needs help (although not much, wanting to reclaim your throne isn't really needing help)
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As for the pointless Halo 3 v. Galaxy debate, at this point, Halo 3 would sell more based on a higher user install base. That, however, is subject to change.
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Even more interesting is that Gamestop's report a few months ago which alleged 4 million preorders for Halo 3. I'm not denying Mario's gravitational pull, but I am denying your predictions about the Wii having a larger install base than the 360 by 9/25/07. As zwarrior pointed out, Halo 3 will drive more sales -- that is inevitable.
So confused now how my internet angst and jaded cynicism should be deployed. :(
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80's edition is total bollocks.. literally 2 INTERNATIONAL bands.. the rest american tat. UK and USA had very different tastes in the 80's.. the game should of represented this... and they really should of made an effort with the presentation and actually played the note patterns... theres some really awful ones, strained my hand cause of one of them.. and some don't even look like the time being played! Really terrible, i was even tempted to send them my DVD-R with some custom 80's tracks on and say this is how to do it you wa*ks
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Is anyone here actually a fanboy of the king of mediocrity?
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I can't imagine why some idiots would want to shell out to buy the same 'sports' game year after year.
Seems like francises and movie tie-ins are good money makers in this industry! That is what has held EA at the top for so long... which also means that we will sadly be seeing more 'repackaging of the same old stuff' from all publishers from now on! :(
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