Activision adding 3 games to Guitar Hero franchise
Activision Blizzard Inc. is cranking up the volume on its music games business.
The Santa Monica company said Thursday that it would release three new games for its popular Guitar Hero franchise this fall: Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Band Hero. The series helped propel Activision to strong first-quarter earnings with the March 29 release of Guitar Hero: Metallica.
The new game lineup shows how Activision intends to keep momentum on its multibillion-dollar music business: by segmenting the market to reach different types of fans.
Guitar Hero 5, with its indie and classic rock tunes, is aimed at the core audience of that franchise. Band Hero is targeted at the more casual player, with family-friendly Top 40 hits. And DJ Hero will have a turntable and feature dance, hip-hop and other genres of club music.
“Our Guitar Hero business up until now has been just classic rock,” Chief Executive Robert Kotick said in an interview. “We’re now broadening out the Guitar Hero fan base to every category of every listener and player.”
The company is sitting in the catbird seat of the $50-billion global video game business. Its merger with Vivendi Games last year catapulted Activision to the No. 1 spot, surpassing Electronic Arts Inc. in global revenue.
Activision on Thursday reported profit of $189 million, or 14 cents a share, on sales of $981 million in the quarter ended March 31. Last year, before its merger with Vivendi on July 9, Activision posted net income of $43 million, or 7 cents a share, on sales of $325 million.
Activision shares, which rose 3 cents to $11 in regular trading, gained as much as 30 cents, or 2.7%, in after-hours trading.
But the company also issued a cautious outlook, tempered by the stormy economy. It forecast sales of $4.3 billion and earnings of 24 cents a share for the year. That’s up just slightly over last year’s revenue of $4.2 billion and earnings of 22 cents a share.
“It’s a classic Activision report,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. “They beat estimates for the quarter and they give a conservative outlook.”
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