Activision posts record $1.48 billion revenues

Activision Inc has posted its financial results for the three months ending December 31, 2007 with a record net revenue figure of USD 1.48 billion, up 80 per cent on the equivalent period the previous year.

The company, ranked as the number one publisher in the US in 2007 for both consoles and handhelds, also recorded a profit of USD 284.9 million, up 93 per cent year-on-year.

Nine month net revenues totalled USD 2.3 billion, with profit over the same period hitting USD 300.7 million - numbers which have prompted Activision to revise its full year forecasts up.

The company now expects total net revenue by the end of March to hit USD 2.65 billion - up from USD 2.45 billion - while earnings per diluted share are estimated at USD 1.07.

Highlights from the year-to-date include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which shipped over 7 million copies to the end of 2007, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which took the largest amount of money for any title worldwide across the year.

Additionally the Guitar Hero franchise surpassed USD 1 billion in revenues in its lifetime during last year, and the Spiderman 3 and Transformers franchises also performed well.

Activision's planned merger with Vivendi Games is still moving forwards, according to the company's chairman and CEO, Robert Kotick.

"We are on schedule toward obtaining the stockholder and regulatory approvals needed to complete our business combination with Vivendi Games, which will create the world's largest and most profitable independent video game company and should allow us to continue delivering exceptional returns to our shareholders," he said in a statement.

"The combined company expects to have the broadest, most diverse portfolio of entertainment assets in the industry, positioning it to capitalize on the continued worldwide growth in interactive entertainment."

That deal is still subject to various regulatory, stockholder and antitrust approvals, although no major problems are anticipated, in which case completion should take place in the summer of this year.