Activision readying trio for Wii launch

May 5th, 2006, 16:49 Posted By: wraggster

Via Gamespot

In a conference call following the release of Activision's earnings, CEO of publishing Mike Griffith further delved into the company's future plans. He described the attitude for the company's fiscal 2007 (April 1, 2006 through March 31, 2007) year as "cautious," but sees the following 12 months as a time when the industry will really take off, as evidenced by the projection of $1.6 billion in revenue for that time period.

Activision is planning on releasing five PlayStation Portable games, four Xbox 360 games, and three PlayStation 3 launch titles for this fiscal year and will also contribute three launch titles for the Wii. Gamers can expect more Activision support for the Wii than was given to the GameCube, according to one executive. No specific titles were mentioned.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the games will be available day one of both the Wii and PS3. Later on in the call, one executive explained that the games would be out "in very near proximity to the hardware launch." Of course, Activision already has experience releasing a trifecta of next-gen titles with a console launch. The company had Gun, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, and Call of Duty 2 available for the Xbox 360's first day on the market.

The Tony Hawk franchise will get the same dual-release strategy that was given to the Call of Duty franchise in Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360, PC) and Call of Duty: Big Red One (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube). A "traditional" Tony Hawk game aimed at the hardcore Tony Hawk audience will be released, as will Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, "a frenzied downhill racing game and new direction for the Tony Hawk franchise," aimed at more casual gamers.

The company's 2008 fiscal year is when Activision thinks the market will come around again, and has planned 50 percent more titles scheduled for launch at that time than in fiscal year '07. Games based on the next Shrek and Spider-Man films, both set to hit theaters in May 2007, will lead off the year, with new editions of Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, and X-Men games in the pipeline, as well as games based on DreamWorks' Bee Movie and Transformers movies.

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