Activision: 11 New Games for this year

Activision CEO Says 11 New Games Planned For Fiscal 2005 LOS ANGELES - Activision Inc. (NasdaqNM:ATVI - News) plans to release 11 new games over the next year, most of which will have tie-ins with former game titles and widely anticipated movie sequels, company executives said in a conference call Wednesday following the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings report. The new games will account for a "vast majority" of the company's expected $1 billion in fiscal 2005 revenue according to Chief Executive Bobby Kotick. Kotick noted that as the life cycle of the current generation of home video- game consoles gets into its late stages, Activision is focusing on games that have mass appeal and take advantage of proven tie-ins with previous games or well-known movies. As a result, the company is shying away from ambitious new initiatives such as last year's highly successful Tony Hawk Underground or True Crimes: Streets of LA, and Call of Duty, even though it is betting big on sequels to all three of those titles. Meanwhile, the company is planning games that tie in with a slate of movie sequels that have spelled previous success for Activision's games, such as Spider Man 2 and Shrek 2. "Our strategy as the cycle matures is to go toward more mass appeal properties, aligning our intellectual property portfolio with those who are buying games, and working with titles that have a good history," Kotick said. Activision said its lineup of 11 new games includes 51 versions aimed at users of Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News)'s Xbox, Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE - News)'s PlayStation 2 and Play Station Personal, and Nintendo Co.'s (7974.OK) GameCube and Gameboy Advance platforms. This spring, the company plans to release a new game to coincide with the release of the "Shrek 2" movie and later in the spring to release a game based on the "Spider-Man 2" movie. Also in the quarter, it will release a sequel to True Crime: Streets of LA. Later in the year, it plans to release games related to children's movies " Shark Tale" and "Lemony Snicket." Also in the lineup are a new sequel to its Tony Hawk's Underground skateboarding game, Xmen: Legends role playing game, and Call of Duty: Finest Hour military theme game. Other games planned for release during the year are Doom 3, Rome: Total War, and Vampire Blood Lines. The lineup is causing the company to project ambitious results for fiscal 2005, which starts in April. Activision is now projecting $1 billion in sales and earnings of 90 cents a share for 2004. The company on Wednesday increased its earnings outlook for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends in March, to a loss of 2 cents a share on $125 million in revenue from previous estimates of a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $114 million. For full-year fiscal 2004, the company now expects earnings of 72 cents a share on revenue of $910 million, compared with earlier expectations for earnings of 56 cents a share on revenue of $870 million. For its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, Activision's net income rose to $ 77 million, or 79 cents a share, from $44.3 million, or 42 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $508.5 million from $378.7 million. In after-hours trading Wednesday, shares of Activision were up $1.47, or 8%, at $19.47. The shares had closed the normal session up 4 cents at $18.