Activision declares third-party software dominance, thanks Guitar Hero

by Randy Nelson { May 7th 2009 at 6:30PM }

In Activsion Blizzard's Q1 2009 results announced today, the company made no small deal out of the contributions Guitar Hero: World Tour has made to its bottom line for the quarter. Citing figures from the NPD group, Charttrack and Gfk, Activision claimed software sales dominance with GHWT drawing in more money across all platforms than any other title's cumulative earnings for January 1 through March 31 in North America.

Also trumpeted was GHWT's performance on Wii as the console's highest-grossing third-party title in the US and Europe, noting in particular that it was the only third-party release among Wii's top five games in those territories. Sales of the Guitar Hero franchise in general were up 84% year over year in Europe, it said.

Activision CEO Robert Kotick commented during its investors call that the Guitar Hero franchise has reached $2 billion in sales -- only the third to achieve this status -- while bad-mouthing rival Rock Band as experiencing a "rather precipitous drop-off" in sales.

The "We're No. 1!" trend continued as Activision claimed the top PC spot -- a market where it holds three of the top 10 best-selling titles -- with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart, according to figures provided by Apple, remains the top paid app for iPhone / iPod Touch, though the company didn't clarify whether that is in dollars or copies downloaded. What about Call of Duty? It did well enough to earn a brief mention in the publisher's earning statement, with publishing CEO Mike Griffith announcing that Call of Duty 4 has officially sold 13 million copies worldwide during the investor call. The franchise will likely have a much larger presence in the quarter following Modern Warfare 2's release.

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, business, crash-bandicoot-nitro-kart, earnings, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-world-tour, wrath-of-the-lich-king

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Baron @ May 7th 2009 6:39PM

Not much in the way of new franchises (besides DJ Hero which is probably going to top this year's/next year's charts) though.

EA have the right idea in preparing for the future with original IP's. People don't still buy Crash Bandicoot or Silent Hill, and I doubt in five years people will still be buying Call of Duty.

whazam1337 @ May 7th 2009 6:43PM

i Will NOT br buying dj hero in fact i will be buying Scratch ultimate dj to spit in GH face for making so many GH games its just ridiculous its not even like funny any more. Rock band will always be better then any GH EVER they copy everyone and everything possible.

Evan @ May 7th 2009 6:47PM

whazam1337, I don't think it was supposed to be funny at all ever.

colloquialisms ftw

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ May 7th 2009 7:08PM

'I doubt in 5 years people will still be buying Call of Duty.'

replace call of duty with guitar hero. they dropped the 'call of duty' from 'call of duty: modern warfare 2'.

The Baron @ May 8th 2009 11:48AM

Very true about guitar hero. I imagine that the majority of its sales comes from people going 'that sounds cool!' and then being hooked for a couple of years.

Once the novelty has worn off for society, I don't think the gameplay will hold people's attention.

Comet @ May 7th 2009 6:51PM

Nice screen shot Joystiq! MORE MORE MORE!

Comet @ May 7th 2009 7:00PM

Or you could change it real quick. I won't mind.

B3astofthe3ast @ May 7th 2009 7:05PM

With that much CoD4, IW could probably become their own publisher!

PN04 @ May 7th 2009 7:07PM

It helps when you flood the market with inferior product and take advantage of your consumers the way they did. Instead of releasing 6 of the same game HMX just released downloadable content in the same amount So they might have sold more full copies but HMX could have sold more singles and albums individually with a single game. It's sad that people just run out and buy buy buy these days without actually researching their investments but I guess that's why our economy sucks so badly now.

xandeR- @ May 7th 2009 7:06PM

Way to go Activision!

Now come up with an idea that is your own and doesn't suck.

VaultICEE @ May 7th 2009 7:53PM

In response to the Guitar Hero sales, it just proves two things.

1. Mediocrity sells.

2. PEOPLE ARE STUPID.

No Kills @ May 7th 2009 8:04PM

I think guitar hero is going a bit far now.
wait, wait, LICH KING in guitar hero confirmed!?!

Robert Maynard @ May 7th 2009 9:53PM

"We couldna done it without ya, folks! Give yourselves a pat on the back, suckers!"

Brett @ May 7th 2009 10:42PM

With the inverse directions of the fortunes of Activision and EA, is it too farfetched for me to hope for some sort of buyout and the reuniting of HMX with the GH franchise?

MrSpaceCowboy @ May 7th 2009 11:26PM

That's the last thing I would want to see.

Rock Band would be poisoned. "Unclean! Unclean!" They would cry.
Right behind that, Mirror's Edge 4 and Dead Space III.

Then you would have EA Sports games. You'd get more than one a year, that's for sure.

Never let me catch you hoping for that EVER.

UniBroW @ May 8th 2009 8:30AM

Rock Band KILLS Guitar Hero, just because you are number one in something doesn't mean you are the best. Another thing is he leaving out all the revenue accumulated from the income via Rock Bands downloadable content? I hear Rock Band makes a lot of money with all that factored in. I mean, I have easily spent 80-100 in addition from that alone.