Activision overtakes EA as top third party publisher

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 24th 2007 at 3:15PM }

Activision has surpassed EA by approximately $20 million in sales the first half of this year, making it the top third party publisher on the block. Well, that explains how they could afford to hire Jamie Kennedy to make a mockery of their press conference. If this information causes a massive "¡¿QUE?!" in your mind, Activision has done insanely well with their acquisition of Red Octane (Guitar Hero), their movie license games (which people are compelled to purchase for ungodly reasons) and franchise staples like Tony Hawk and Call of Duty.

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]

Tags: activision, business, ea, electronicarts, guitarhero, madden, money, redoctane

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neebs @ Jul 24th 2007 3:19PM

/universe

Jacob P. @ Jul 24th 2007 3:58PM

Haha...I didn't expect that, so it made it all the more funny

zwarrior @ Jul 24th 2007 3:20PM

Well deserved. I'm surprised, I thought for sure that if a 3rd party company would temporaraly detrown EA, it would have been THQ or Ubi

Konny @ Jul 24th 2007 3:32PM

A lot of the recent movie tie-in crap has come from Activation.. thats were their sales are coming from.

hvnlysoldr @ Jul 24th 2007 3:34PM

WHAT?! In normal Spanish they use como which means how and not que which means what. Dododimio

aylera @ Jul 24th 2007 3:37PM

EA has a bulk of their titles coming out in the next few months.

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.

zwarrior @ Jul 24th 2007 3:43PM

But including 1st party publishers, I think this year, Ninty and MS will easily beat EA, with Halo 3 being the best selling GOTY

Hey Apples @ Jul 24th 2007 3:49PM

That graphic was hilarious. And it is no small feat to dethrone EA. Maybe it's a sign that the idiot masses are wising up to the unoriginal turds EA spews forth annually.

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.

WiNG @ Jul 24th 2007 3:49PM

Halo 3 will not outsell Mario Galaxy.

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.

zwarrior @ Jul 24th 2007 3:57PM

Are you kidding, 12-16 will be Halo 3's biggest demographic, more so than the 20-30yr olds.

Halo 3 will undoubtedly outsell Mario Galaxy; I think more Wii owners are excited for SSBB over it, even.

Phranctoast @ Jul 24th 2007 3:54PM

Galaxy reminds me of those small moons in the Ratchet and Clank games..Not a terrible thing, but I got tired of playing those levels due to the look. Wonder if the same will happen with Mario Galaxy.

Mr Khan @ Jul 24th 2007 4:11PM

I'd say it could go either way, if Halo 3 were on Xbox and Galaxy on GC, then it would be a no brainer (Halo 3>Galaxy), but with the console situation incredibly different now, accurate predictions beyond "both will sell well" are really hard to make

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)

Grindstone @ Jul 24th 2007 5:07PM

Hmm, so who are the top 5 publishers these days? Apparently Activision is #1 and EA #2. Ubisoft is... and Rockstar... If you know, fill in the gaps, please.

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.

Rubang B @ Jul 24th 2007 5:09PM

Wii will have a larger install base than the 360 by the time Halo 3 comes out.

zwarrior @ Jul 24th 2007 7:16PM

What about those who don't own 360 yet? Halo 3 will also drive system sales, and so will Mario Galaxy presumably, but will there be enough Wiis available?

Grindstone @ Jul 24th 2007 8:00PM

You're probably wrong, Rubang B, as the Wii would have to sell around 3 million units in 8 weeks (if not more), and the 360 would have to have no sales whatsover.

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.

Ihya @ Jul 24th 2007 5:21PM

Does this mean I hate Activision now?

So confused now how my internet angst and jaded cynicism should be deployed. :(

poke50uk @ Jul 24th 2007 7:40PM

uck.. and guitar hero has gone down since activision...
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

Wii60 @ Jul 24th 2007 8:23PM

I'm sorry, the phrase "EA fanboy" is in this article. I never thought I'd see that, and never want to again.

Is anyone here actually a fanboy of the king of mediocrity?

Mark @ Jul 25th 2007 3:19AM

I just hope this is will become a long term downtrend for EA, at least after sales of Crysis start to decline!

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! :(