Tippl: "Performance not what we'd like it to be" in some divisions

Activision Blizzard CFO Thomas Tippl has admitted that, despite the publisher's impressive financial results, certain areas of the company are not pulling their weight.

"We have a number of businesses where the performance is not what we'd like it to be," he told investors in a post-results Q&A.

However, he felt it would be possible to make the Activision side of the business more successful in quarters which did not feature a Call of Duty launch. "We have undertaken some measures... reset some of the product development targets on the casual and licensed part of portfolio."

Activision's better-than-expected Q3 largely stemmed from strong sales of StarCraft II and catalogue turnover from Modern Warfare II and its map packs.

TIpple felt, however, that this was enough to go on. "We have a track record of outperforming the industry in terms of growth and we want to continue to do that.

"We are in a unique position where we have the assets... to perform ahead of the industry as an average."

He had high expectations of next week's Call of Duty: Black Ops, and for 2011's COD products. "We have more development resources dedicated to Call of Duty than ever before... There is atremendous appetite for Call of Duty content.

"We are very bullish on the franchise. Growth opportunity for Call of Duty has never been stronger."

While he declined to give figures, Tippl also highlighted the importance of DLC to Call of Duty's overall revenues. "The tail of these products is getting fatter because we are getting better at providing additional content and services. As consumer appetite continues to increase we continue to increase our capability at providing these services."

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick hailed Black Ops as "likely to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time."

When asked whether it this could be outdone in future, given the size of the console install base, Kotick replied "Is it possible? Sure it's possible."