Top Games This Year Adults Halo 3-XBOX 3560 Crysis (PC) Assassin's Creed (PS3, XBox 360) Mass Effect (XBox 360) Bioshock (XBox 360, PC) Orange Box (XBox 360, PS3, PC) Stranglehold (PS3, XBox 360, PC) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, XBox 360, PC) God of War II (PS2) Gears of War (PC) Teens Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (PS3) Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (XBox 360, PC, PS3) Heavenly Sword (PS3) Warhawk (PS3) Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (XBox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC) World in Conflict (PC) Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC) Rock Band (PS3, XBox 360) Kids Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3) The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii) Surf's Up (All systems) NHL 08 (XBox 360, PS3, PC, PS2) Online Play Warhawk (PS3) Crysis (PC) Halo 3 (XBox 360) Team Fortress 2 (XBox 360, PS3, PC) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (XBox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC) Gears of War (PC) World in Conflict (PC) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, XBox 360, PC) Rock Band (PS3, XBox 360) Virtua Fighter 5 (XBox 360)
Music Games Guitar Hero III Rock Band (PS3, Xbox 360) Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Wii) SingStar Amped (PS2) PaRappa the Rapper (PSP) Jam Sessions (DS) Boogie (Wii) High School Musical - Sing It! (DS, PS2, Wii)

3. activision

Revenue: $3,056.9m
Previous and current years' rankings 7 4
Number of releases August 07 through July 08: 79
Year formed: 1979 Headquarters: Santa Monica, Calif. Studios: Beenox (Quebec City); Bizarre Creations (Liverpool, England); Infinity Ward (Encino, Calif.); Luxoflux (Santa Monica, Calif.); Neversoft (Woodland Hills, Calif.); Raven Software (Middleton, WI); RedOctane (Sunnyvale, Calif.); Shaba Games (San Francisco); Toys For Bob (Novato, Calif.); Treyarch (Santa Monica, Calif.); Vicarious Visions (Troy, N.Y.); Activision Foster City (Foster City, Calif.) Activision has just finalized a merger with Vivendi's games division, but for the period discussed here, Activision and Vivendi were considered separate entities. According to the NPD group, Activision was the top-selling publisher in the US for the calendar year of 2007, and during our study period the company's revenues doubled and profits tripled. But the publisher had the thirdhighest revenues overall this year, keeping it in the third place spot for a third year in a row. Several mega-smash releases powered those sales: Call of Duty 4 sold over ten million copies, and Guitar Hero III moved more than three million. Licensed titles were an important part of the company's strategy: movie-based titles Spider-Man 3, Transformers, and Kung Fu Panda made strong contributions to Activision's bottom line. To cap things off, the Vivendi merger will bring even more strength in intellectual property and development mojovia Blizzardunder the Activision label. Survey respondents gave somewhat mixed impressions of the publisher, offering no clear consensus. Some praised the company's franchise branding, marketing, Q/A, and management, and many readers were hopeful about the merger. But a few readers noted that innovation could be better at the publisher, and some unfavorably compared Activision's focus on sequels in a few key franchises to the approach used by "the old EA."
Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2008
releases and review scores
Game Title Jewel Quest Expeditions Puppy Luv: Spa and Resort Cabela's Trophy Bucks Cabela's Trophy Bucks Hot Wheels: Beat That! Hot Wheels: Beat That! Hot Wheels: Beat That! World Series of Poker 2008: Battle World Series of Poker 2008: Battle World Series of Poker 2008: Battle Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Spider-Man 3 Mahjong Quest Expeditions World Series of Poker 2008: Battle Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Platform DS DS PS2 Xbox 360 PS2 Wii Xbox 360 Xbox 360 PS3 PS2 DS PSP PS2 Wii Xbox 360 PC PC Wii Xbox 360 PS2 PS3 DS PSP DS PC Wii PS2 Xbox 360 PS3 Average MetaCritic Score 83 19
for the Bracelets for the Bracelets for the Bracelets

for the Bracelets

Barbie as The Island Princess Shrek: Ogres and Dronkeys Bee Movie Game Bee Movie Game Bee Movie Game Bee Movie Game Bee Movie Game Dancing with the Stars Dancing with the Stars Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets Hot Wheels: Beat That! Hot Wheels: Beat That! Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2008 Soldier of Fortune: Payback Monster Jam Monster Jam Monster Jam Soldier of Fortune: Payback Monster Jam Soldier of Fortune: Payback Cabela's Monster Bass Monster Jam History Channel: Battle for the Pacific, The Puppy Luv: Your New Best Friend History Channel: Battle for the Pacific, The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific, The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific, The History Channel: Lost Worlds, The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific, The Pimp My Ride Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Kung Fu Panda Cabela's Trophy Bucks Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda Guitar Hero: On Tour Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Average Metacritic Review
DS DS Xbox 360 Wii PS2 DS PC Wii PS2 PC PS3 DS Xbox 360 PSP DS PC DS Xbox 360 Xbox 360 DS Xbox 360 PC PC PS2 PS3 PS2 Wii PS2 Wii PC Wii Xbox 360 PC PS3 Wii PS3 Xbox 360 PC Wii PS3 PS2 DS Xbox 360 Wii DS PS2 Wii Xbox 360 PS3 PS3 Score: 65.33%

reputation survey

Average Respondent Rating: 7.42
Number of respondents: 248
Reputation Survey Written Responses "Few new IPs." "Great biz dev group, chaotic greenlight process." "The definition of sequel churn." "Great support, typically hands off with respect for developers. Great marketing and influence, and genuine effort to produce a quality game." "A strong company but a weaker vision, much like the old EA." "One of the best." "Doing well on all three platforms. Starting to take core Wii market seriously." "New 800lb gorilla; should be one to watch." "Great games and branding in all genres. Deep and broad development capacity."

Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2008 21
"Impressed with Blizzard's portion of the business, but the new merged company seems intent on killing anything that won't sell 20 million units." "The Activision Blizzard merger has appeared to the outside world as a big, scary fiascowhere there has been no attempt to hide the fact that it is a purely profit driven, money crazed decision. The decided silence and lack of encouragement speaking to the quality of the companies future titles is something that, I believe, wounded many fans goodwill they had for the publisher." "Uncertainty about how the merge with Vivendi will turn out." "Potential, but they rely way too much on established brands. They're making all the mistakes EA did in the past." "Shaky publisher; don't know what to expect from them." "Activision is taking the same route EA did in the past by sacrificing long-term growth for short-term gains. I hope they don't mess with Blizzard's winning formula." "Brilliantly run business for its shareholders. Produces solid games but rarely innovates. Respects the talent it absolutely needs." "Lots of exciting outlook and highly rated titles." "As long as Activision leaves Blizzard alone, this conglomeration will be a fantastic creative force." "They don't seem to be pushing the envelope, but there is no denying their success and fun games." "Merger will paralyze the development process for at least another 18 months." "Since getting the Guitar Hero content Activision has one of the stronger lineups and now they own WoW." "The new behemoth on the block has already made some mistakes by dropping Brutal Legend and Ghostbusters, but preservng Activision's studio model could prove to be a winner." "Look up to them in every area of game development." "Low risk, high profits." "Good overall, though Activision has released some stinkers lately. Blizzard makes great stuff, but never deviates from their own formula." "I have been very impressed with the way they handle QA." "They're making more money than God w/Guitar Hero; now with Blizzard they're unstoppable" "Obviously knows how to create and continue a franchise (Guitar Hero, Call of Duty)." "Very powerful three trick pony. Would like to see them innovate with their game design, but they have a great track record of refining pre-existing game ideas and fiction." "Too big and too specialized on a very marginal section of the game industry" "Have managed to grow to one of the biggest dev/pubs in the industry while maintaining a clear vision of what needs to be done to succeed." "Although some of the games coming out of the company are quality, Activision Blizzard has turned into one of the worst publishers out there, with the cancellation of anything that's unique or doesn't gaurantee enormous returns, and has all but abandoned any idea of innovation."

Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2008 22
"Powerhouse with a lot driving them forward, I am exicted and scared to see how they handle this its sink or swim." "Not a fan of how they are managing the Guitar Hero franchise. Mainly looking forward to the Blizzard projects in progress." "I think they're pretty professional, although they did drop Sierra Online's game. They're a client of mine. Or they were before they were dropped. Are they even Sierra Online anymore?" "Top-notch gameplay and brilliant original titles." "Great work consistently."

detailed survey

Detailed Survey Written Responses "The producers at Activision Blizzard are arrogant and have made some incredibly stupid decisions that negatively affect the overall product, but for the most part the company is generally well-managed." "Activision Blizzard is risk-adverse, dropping Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend, which is disappointing from a creative standpoint. Profits are ridiculous though." "Activision Blizzard is good but success is causing them to make bad decisions. "Good to work with overall, but the organization is not always on time with their own schedule." "One of the best publishers I've had the pleasure of working for/with." "Good so far. There's always issues, but they give a lot of autonomy to studios." "My experience at Activision was great, but I've heard that things have gone downhill since I left three years ago." "Fantastic people at the producer and executive producer level. Execs are handling the merger confusion as well as could be hoped, but it will be early 2009 before a cohesive product plan emerges." "Horrible treatment of employees." "Could pay better."
Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2008 23