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The [[1983 video game crash]], in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activison's footsteps without the expertise of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games, forcing them to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of [[Infocom]]. After a management shift, with CEO [[Jim Levy]] replaced by [[Bruce Davis (video game industry)|Bruce Davis]], the company renamed itself as '''Mediagenic''' and branched out into business software applications. Mediagenic quickly fell into debt, and the company was bought for around {{USD|500,000}} by [[Robert Kotick]] and a small group of investors around 1991.
The [[1983 video game crash]], in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activison's footsteps without the expertise of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games, forcing them to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of [[Infocom]]. After a management shift, with CEO [[Jim Levy]] replaced by [[Bruce Davis (video game industry)|Bruce Davis]], the company renamed itself as '''Mediagenic''' and branched out into business software applications. Mediagenic quickly fell into debt, and the company was bought for around {{USD|500,000}} by [[Robert Kotick]] and a small group of investors around 1991.


Kotick instituted a full rework of the company to cover its debts, dismissing most of its staff, and moving the company to Los Angeles, reincorporated under the Activision name. Building on existing assets, the Kotick-led Activision pursued more publishing opportunities, and after recovering from the former debt, started acquiring numerous studies and [[intellectual properties]] over the 1990s and 2000s, among these being the ''[[Call of Duty]]'' and ''[[Guitar Hero (series)|Guitar Hero]]'' series. In 2008, Activision merged with [[Vivendi Games]], the parent company of [[Blizzard Entertainment]]; the merged company became [[Activision Blizzard]] with Kotick as its CEO.
Kotick instituted a full rework of the company to cover its debts, dismissing most of its staff, and moving the company to Los Angeles, reincorporated under the Activision name. Building on existing assets, the Kotick-led Activision pursued more publishing opportunities, and after recovering from the former debt, started acquiring numerous studies and [[intellectual properties]] over the 1990s and 2000s, among these being the ''[[Call of Duty]]'' and ''[[Guitar Hero (series)|Guitar Hero]]'' series. In 2008, Activision merged with [[Vivendi Games]], the parent company of [[Blizzard Entertainment]]; the merged company became [[Activision Blizzard]] with Kotick as its CEO. Within this structure, Activision became Activision Publishing, Inc. and has served to manage numerous third-party studios and publish all of the parent company's games outside of those created by Blizzard.


As of January 2017, Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top publisher for 2016 in the United States.<ref name="gama">{{cite web|url=https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/ |title=Top 25 Companies by Game Revenues |website=newzoo.com |date= |accessdate=January 12, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306074425/https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/ |archivedate=March 6, 2017 }}</ref><!--In this context, 'third party' means parties other than the consumer and the platform manufacturer. Note the discussion of this under 'history,' below.--> Its parent company is [[Activision Blizzard]], formed from the merger of Activision and [[Vivendi Games]] on July 9, 2008,<ref>{{cite news|title=Vivendi To Merge With Activision |url=https://www.forbes.com/2007/12/02/vivendi-computer-guitar-tech-media-cx_rr_1202activision.html |work=Forbes |publisher=Forbes.com LLC |accessdate=August 22, 2012 |first=Rachel |last=Rosmarin |date=December 2, 2007 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620012647/http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/02/vivendi-computer-guitar-tech-media-cx_rr_1202activision.html |archivedate=June 20, 2013 }}</ref> an entity which became a completely independent company on July 25, 2013 when Activision Blizzard purchased the remaining shares from then majority owner Vivendi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/26/activision-buys-back-its-independence-with-8-2-billion-vivendi-deal/#5c6347212c47 |title=Activision To Buy Back Independence In $8.2 Billion Vivendi Deal |website=Forbes.com |date=July 26, 2013 |accessdate=January 12, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118080311/http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/26/activision-buys-back-its-independence-with-8-2-billion-vivendi-deal/ |archivedate=January 18, 2017 }}</ref> Its CEO was Eric Hirshberg until March 2018.<ref name=hirschberg>{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/activision-publishing-names-eric-hirshberg-as-new-ceo/ |title=Activision Publishing names Eric Hirshberg as new CEO |website=Engadget |first=JC |last=Fletcher |date=July 13, 2010 |accessdate=January 1, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624044021/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/activision-publishing-names-eric-hirshberg-as-new-ceo/ |archivedate=June 24, 2015 }}</ref><ref>https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/18/activision-publishing-ceo-eric-hirshberg-is-leaving-in-march-after-8-years/</ref>
As of January 2017, Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top publisher for 2016 in the United States.<ref name="gama">{{cite web|url=https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/ |title=Top 25 Companies by Game Revenues |website=newzoo.com |date= |accessdate=January 12, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306074425/https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/ |archivedate=March 6, 2017 }}</ref><!--In this context, 'third party' means parties other than the consumer and the platform manufacturer. Note the discussion of this under 'history,' below.--> Its parent company is [[Activision Blizzard]], formed from the merger of Activision and [[Vivendi Games]] on July 9, 2008,<ref>{{cite news|title=Vivendi To Merge With Activision |url=https://www.forbes.com/2007/12/02/vivendi-computer-guitar-tech-media-cx_rr_1202activision.html |work=Forbes |publisher=Forbes.com LLC |accessdate=August 22, 2012 |first=Rachel |last=Rosmarin |date=December 2, 2007 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620012647/http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/02/vivendi-computer-guitar-tech-media-cx_rr_1202activision.html |archivedate=June 20, 2013 }}</ref> an entity which became a completely independent company on July 25, 2013 when Activision Blizzard purchased the remaining shares from then majority owner Vivendi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/26/activision-buys-back-its-independence-with-8-2-billion-vivendi-deal/#5c6347212c47 |title=Activision To Buy Back Independence In $8.2 Billion Vivendi Deal |website=Forbes.com |date=July 26, 2013 |accessdate=January 12, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118080311/http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/26/activision-buys-back-its-independence-with-8-2-billion-vivendi-deal/ |archivedate=January 18, 2017 }}</ref> Its CEO was Eric Hirshberg until March 2018.<ref name=hirschberg>{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/activision-publishing-names-eric-hirshberg-as-new-ceo/ |title=Activision Publishing names Eric Hirshberg as new CEO |website=Engadget |first=JC |last=Fletcher |date=July 13, 2010 |accessdate=January 1, 2017 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624044021/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/activision-publishing-names-eric-hirshberg-as-new-ceo/ |archivedate=June 24, 2015 }}</ref><ref>https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/18/activision-publishing-ceo-eric-hirshberg-is-leaving-in-march-after-8-years/</ref>

Revision as of 16:41, 13 February 2019

Activision Publishing, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo game industry
FoundedOctober 1, 1979; 45 years ago (1979-10-01)
FoundersDavid Crane
Alan Miller
Bob Whitehead
Headquarters
Santa Monica, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Rob Kostich (president)[1]
ProductsList of Activision video games
Number of employees
4000
ParentActivision Blizzard
Subsidiaries
Websiteactivision.com
Footnotes / references
[2][3]

Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica. The company was founded in October 1979 by former Atari game developers, upset at how they were treated at Atari, to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. Activision is recognized as the first third-party video game developer.

The 1983 video game crash, in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activison's footsteps without the expertise of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games, forcing them to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of Infocom. After a management shift, with CEO Jim Levy replaced by Bruce Davis, the company renamed itself as Mediagenic and branched out into business software applications. Mediagenic quickly fell into debt, and the company was bought for around US$500,000 by Robert Kotick and a small group of investors around 1991.

Kotick instituted a full rework of the company to cover its debts, dismissing most of its staff, and moving the company to Los Angeles, reincorporated under the Activision name. Building on existing assets, the Kotick-led Activision pursued more publishing opportunities, and after recovering from the former debt, started acquiring numerous studies and intellectual properties over the 1990s and 2000s, among these being the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero series. In 2008, Activision merged with Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment; the merged company became Activision Blizzard with Kotick as its CEO. Within this structure, Activision became Activision Publishing, Inc. and has served to manage numerous third-party studios and publish all of the parent company's games outside of those created by Blizzard.

As of January 2017, Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top publisher for 2016 in the United States.[4] Its parent company is Activision Blizzard, formed from the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games on July 9, 2008,[5] an entity which became a completely independent company on July 25, 2013 when Activision Blizzard purchased the remaining shares from then majority owner Vivendi.[6] Its CEO was Eric Hirshberg until March 2018.[7][8]

History

Founding (1979)

By 1979, Nolan Bushnell had sold Atari, Inc. to Warner Communications and had left the company over several disagreements with the direction Warner wanted to take the company, particularly with the popular Atari 2600 game console.[9] Bushnell's replacement as CEO, Ray Kassar, showed little respect to developers, giving them no financial compensation for games that did well,[10] and would not allow developers' names be credited with games for fear they would be procured by other game companies.[11] David Crane, one of Atari's programmers, recalled a memo sent by Kassar that listed the best-selling cartridges from the previous year to help guide game ideas. Crane had considered that for those games that he was fully responsible for had brought in over US$20 million for the company but he was still only receiving a US$20,000 salary.[12] Crane, along with Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead became vocal about the lack of recognition within the company and became known as the "Gang of Four".[12] The group met with Kassar in May 1979 to demand that the company treat developers as record labels treated musicians, with royalties and their names on game boxes. Kaplan, who called the others "the best designers for the [2600] in the world", recalled that Kassar called the four men "towel designers" and claimed that "anybody can do a cartridge".[13][14]

The four made the decision to soon leave Atari and start their own business, but were not sure how to go about it. Some developers had already left Atari, only to be hired back as contractors, effectively doubling their pay rate, but the four wanted something more ambitious.[12] In 1979, the concept of third-party developers did not exist.[15] as software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed.[16] The four decided to create their own independent game development company. They were directed by their attorney to Jim Levy, at the time working for GRT Records to raise venture capital to go into the manufacture of cassette tape drives for early home computers. Levy listened to their plans, agreed with its direction, and helped the four to secure about US$1 million in capital from Sutter Hill Ventures.[12] By August, Crane and Miller had left Atari, with Whitehead and Kaplan joining them shortly after.[14] Activision was formally founded on October 1, 1979, with Levy serving as CEO. The company was initially named "Computer Arts, Inc." while they considered a better title. While the four had thought of the name VSync, Inc., there was fear that the public would not understand or known how to say it; Levy's suggested the idea to combine "active" and "television" to come up with Activision.[17] The four's departure from Atari created a major dent in Atari's developer staff, and Atari pursued legal action from 1980 to 1982 to try to shut down Activision, claiming the four had stolen trade secrets. The lawsuit was settled by 1982, with Activision agreeing to pay royalties to Atari but otherwise legitimizing the third-party development model.[12][18]

Early years (1980-1985)

The four were aided by their knowledge of the Atari 2600 to be able to develop their cartridges as well as software tricks with the console in making their own games, trying to make them visually distinctive from Atari-produced games.[19] Each developed their own title, about one a year over the first few years of the company. To further distinguish themselves, Activision's boxes were brightly-colored, and predominately used an in-game screenshot on the back cover so consumers would be aware of what they were getting.[19] Instruction manuals for games devoted a least one page to credit the developer. Additionally, for nearly all of Activision's games through 1983, the instruction manual included instructions for sending the company a photograph of the game's completion by the player as to received an embroidered patch in return.[20] During this time, Atari attempted to seek legal action against Activision. The four's departure from Atari represented the mindset behind games that had made up of more than half of Atari's game revenues, and tried to legally shut down Activision. However, by 1982, Atari's suit was dismissed by the court.[19]

Activision's breakout title is considered to be 1982's Pitfall!, created by Crane. Over the next few years, over 4 million copies of the game were sold.[21] Total revenues around 1983 were estimated to be about US$60 million, at which point they had around 60 employees.[19] Danny Goodman stated in Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games in 1983, "I doubt that there is an active [Atari 2600] owner who doesn't have at least one Activision cartridge in his library".[22] The company launched a success initial public offering in 1983 on NASDAQ under the stock ticker AVSN.[19][23] The founders were given the Game Developers Choice "First Penguin" award in 2003, reflecting on being the first successful third-party developer.[24]

The success of Activision, alongside the popularity of the Atari 2600, led to many more home consoles third-party developers as well as other home consoles. Activision produced some of its Atari games for the Intellivision and Colecovision consoles, among other platforms.[25] However, several new third-party developers also arose, attempting to follow the approach Activision had used but without the experience they had; according to Crane, several of these companies were founded with venture capital and hired programmers with little game design experience off the street, mass-publishing whatever product the developers had made. This was a contributing factor to the video game crash of 1983, among other factors.[19] For Activision, while they survived the crash, they felt the effects of the crash in the following years. These third-party developed folded, leaving warehouse full of unsold games, which savvy retailers purchased and sold as a mass discount (US$5 compared to Activision's US$40 manufacturer's suggested retail price). While there was still a demand for Activision games, uneducated consumers were more drawn to the heavily-discounted titles instead, reducing their income. Because of this, Activision decided that they needed to diversity their games onto home computers such as the Commodore 64, Apple, and Atari 8-bit family to avoid a similar event.[19] There still was a drain of talent through 1985 from the crash. Kaplan left Activision in 1983 to return to Atari, while Miller and Whitehead went to form Accolade.[19]

With video game crash making console game development a risky proposition, the company focused on developing for home computers with games like Little Computer People and Hacker, while Levy tried to keep expendatures in check as they recovered.[19] Looking to expand further, Activision acquired the struggling text adventure pioneer Infocom in June 1986. This acquisition was spearheaded by Levy, who was a big fan of Infocom's titles. About ix months after the "Info Wedding", Activision's board decided to replace Levy with Bruce Davis. Davis was against the purchase of Infocom from the start and was heavy-handed in its management,[26] and even attempted to seek a lawsuit to recover their purchase from Infocom's shareholders.[19] Crane also found Davis difficult to work with, and was concerned with how Davis managed the closure of Imagic, one of the third-party development studios formed in Activision's success in 1981.[19] Crane left Activision in 1988 and helped Gary Kitchen found Absolute Entertainment in 1988.[19]

Mediagenic (1988-1992)

In 1988, Activision began involvement in software besides video games, such as business applications. As a result, Activision changed its corporate name to Mediagenic to better represent all of its activities.[27][12]

Mediagenic consisted of four groups:

In 1989, after several years of losses, Activision closed down the Infocom studios, extending to only 11 of the 26 employees an offer to relocate to Activision's Silicon Valley headquarters. Five of them accepted this offer.[26]

Notably during this period, Mediagenic, via Activision, secured the rights to distribute games from Cyan Worlds. The first game published by Activision from Cyan was The Manhole, on CD-ROM for personal computers, the first major game distributed in this format.[29][30]

Purchase by Robert Kotick (1990-2007)

Davis' management of Mediagenic failed to produce a profitable company; in 1991, Medigenic reported a loss of US$26.8 million on only US$28.8 million profit and had over US$60 million in debt.[19][31] Cyan severed their contract with Activision, and instead turned to Broderbund for publishing, including what would become one of the most significant computer games of the 1990s, Myst.[31]

Robert Kotick had become interested in the value of the video game industry following the crash, and he and three investors tried to by Commodore International as to be able to gain access to the Commodore Amiga line of personal computers. Failing to complete this, the group bought a company that licensed Nintendo characters, and through Nintendo was directed to the failing Mediagenic.[32] Kotick and additional investors bought Mediagenic for approximately US$500,000 in 1991.[32] Kotick became CEO and made several immediate changes: He let go of all but 8 of the companies' 150 employees, performed a full restructuring of the company, developed a bankruptcy restructuring plan, and reincorporated the company in Los Angeles, California.[18] In the bankruptcy plan, Kotick recognized that Mediagenic still had valuable assets, which included the Infocom library as well as its authority tools to make games, Activision's distribution network, and licenses to develop on Nintendo and Sega home consoles.[31] Kotick offset some debt by giving stock in the company to its distributors as to keep them vested in the company's success.[31] Kotick also had the company reissue several of its past console and Infocom titles as compilations for personal computers. Kotick had also recognized the value of the Zork property from Infocom, and had the company develop a sequel, Return to Zork. Combined, these steps allowed Mediagenic to fulfill on the bankruptcy plan, and by the end of 1992, Kotick renamed Mediagenic to the original Activision name.[31]

Activision published the first-person perspective MechWarrior in 1989, based on FASA's pen-and-pencil game BattleTech. A sequel, MechWarrior 2, was released in 1995 after two years of delays and internal struggles, prompting FASA not to renew their licensing deal with Activision. To counter, Activision released several more games bearing the MechWarrior 2 name, which did not violate their licensing agreement. These included NetMech, MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bears Legacy, and MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries. The entire MechWarrior 2 game series accounted for more than US$70 million in sales.[33]

Activision procured the license to another pen-and-paper-based war game, Heavy Gear, in 1997. The video game version was well received by critics, with an 81.46% average rating on GameRankings and being considered the best game of the genre at the time by GameSpot. The Mechwarrior 2 engine was also used in other Activision games, including 1997's Interstate '76 and finally 1998's Battlezone.[33]

In June 2000, Activision Holdings was created as a holding company to manage more effectively Activision and its subsidiaries.[34] Immediately after, Activision changed its corporation name from "Activision Inc" to "Activision Publishing", while Activision Holdings took Activision's former corporate name of Activision Inc.[34]

Merger with Vivendi

In December 2007, it was announced that Activision would merge with Vivendi Games, which owned fellow games developer and publisher Blizzard, and the merger would close in July 2008. The new company was called Activision Blizzard and was headed by Activision's former CEO, Robert Kotick. Vivendi was the biggest shareholder in the new group.[35] The new company was estimated to be worth US$18.9 billion, ahead of Electronic Arts, which was valued at US$14.1 billion.[36]

Post-merger developments

Sledgehammer Games was founded on November 17, 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey,[37] who left Electronic Arts subsidiary, Visceral Games.[38][39][40]

The Sledgehammer Games micro site went live on December 8, 2009 with information on the studio development team, location, and current job openings. Speculation on the studio's next game has been offered by industry sites, Kotaku and Gamasutra.[41] The studio's first game was originally planned to be a first-person shooter in the Call of Duty series, with rumors of MMO aspects, as revealed on their website[42] on June 19, 2010. However, after the resignation of many Infinity Ward employees, Sledgehammer Games was brought in to help with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.[43]

On February 9, 2011, Activision announced that it was ending its once profitable Guitar Hero franchise, in the process doing a layoff of approximately 500 people. At the same time it announced that it was discontinuing development of True Crime: Hong Kong, and that it was refocusing its efforts into a new online service named Call of Duty: Elite for its IP Call of Duty. At the same meeting these announcements were made, Activision reported net losses of $233 million for fourth quarter 2010.[44]

In 2011 Activision restarted its in-house development team, releasing Generator Rex: Agent of Providence in October 2011 for PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360.[45] The game was roundly ignored by critics, with no review scores available on Metacritic as of February 2012.[46]

In October 2017, Activision was granted a patent on the manipulation of matchmaking in online multiplayer videogames in order to encourage players to purchase microtransactions. Activision claims that the system has not yet been implemented in a game.[47][48]

Acquisitions and partnerships

Year Acquisition
1997 Raven Software made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them. This partnership resulted in Hexen II, Heretic II, Soldier of Fortune, its sequel and Quake 4. That same year, Activision acquired CentreSoft Ltd., (an independent distributor in the United Kingdom) and NBG Distribution (a German distributor).
1998 Pandemic Studios was founded with an equity investment by Activision. Pandemic's first two games, Battlezone II: Combat Commander and Dark Reign 2, were both sequels to Activision games. That same year, Activision also inked deals with Marvel Entertainment, Head Game Publishing, Disney Interactive, LucasArts Entertainment and CD Contact Data.
1999 Activision acquired Neversoft, best recognized for their line of Tony Hawk skateboarding games. That same year, Activision acquired Expert Software (maker of Home Design 3D).
2000 Activision made an equity investment in Gray Matter Interactive, to develop the follow-up to id Software's Wolfenstein 3D.
2001 Activision acquired rights to Columbia Pictures' feature film Spider-Man. That same year, Activision also acquired Treyarch.
2002 Activision made an equity investment in Infinity Ward, a newly formed studio comprising 22 of the individuals who developed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. That same year, Activision acquired Z-Axis (the studio behind Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX) and Luxoflux Corporation.
2003 Activision and DreamWorks SKG inked a multi-year, multi-property publishing agreement. That same year, Activision also formed a partnership with Valve and acquired both Infinity Ward (developers of the Call of Duty franchise) and software developer Shaba Games LLC.

Activision and Sega made a deal to publish the US releases of PC versions of some titles, especially Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.

Activision, along with several other game software publishers, was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its accounting practices, namely the use of the "return reserve" to allegedly smooth quarterly results.

2004 The company marked its 25th anniversary, and stated that it had posted record earnings and the twelfth consecutive year of revenue growth.
2005 Activision acquired ShaderWorks, acquired game developers Vicarious Visions, Toys for Bob and Beenox.
2006 Activision secured the video game license to make games based on the world of James Bond from MGM Interactive. An exclusive agreement between the two begins in September 2007 with Activision's first game set for release in May 2008 being developed by Treyarch, Beenox and Vicarious Visions. Also in 2006, Activision acquired publisher RedOctane (the publisher of the Guitar Hero franchise).
2007 Activision acquired the control of games developer Bizarre Creations.

Activision acquired Irish multiplayer technology company Demonware.[49]

2008 Merger with Vivendi Games (who owned Blizzard and Sierra) to become Activision Blizzard.[50]
2008 Activision acquired UK games studio FreeStyleGames.[51]
2009 Activision acquired Los Angeles-based developer 7 Studios.[52]
2010 Partnership with Bungie.[53]

Activision announced that Sledgehammer Games will be making Call of Duty games.

2011 Beachhead Studios began developing the ELITE website for the Call of Duty games.
2014 Activision relaunched Sierra Entertainment as an indie game publisher and to re-release old Sierra games.
2015 Activision partnered with Nintendo to make Skylanders/amiibo figurines of Bowser and Donkey Kong
2016 Activision acquired $46 million USD worth of assets from Major League Gaming to develop Activision's esports activities.

Studios

See also: List of Activision Blizzard studios

Current

Defunct

Sold

Notable games published

Main article: List of Activision video games

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/activision-blizzard-exec-shuffle-appoints-new-heads-of-activision-king-emerging-business-1203103289/
  2. ^ "About Activision Publishing". www.activision.com. Activision Publishing. Archived from the original on September 20, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Activision Blizzard, Inc. 2013 Annual Report Form (10-K)". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. March 3, 2014. Archived from the original (XBRL) on April 7, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Top 25 Companies by Game Revenues". newzoo.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Rosmarin, Rachel (December 2, 2007). "Vivendi To Merge With Activision". Forbes. Forbes.com LLC. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Activision To Buy Back Independence In $8.2 Billion Vivendi Deal". Forbes.com. July 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Fletcher, JC (July 13, 2010). "Activision Publishing names Eric Hirshberg as new CEO". Engadget. Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/18/activision-publishing-ceo-eric-hirshberg-is-leaving-in-march-after-8-years/
  9. ^ Ramsay, Morgan (2012). Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play. ISBN 978-1430233510.
  10. ^ "Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: ALAN MILLER". Classic Gaming Expo. CGE Services, Corp. 1999–2010. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Yarwood, Jack (March 27, 2016). "Easter Eggs: The Hidden Secrets of Videogames". Paste. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Flemming, Jeffrey. "The History Of Activision". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ https://www.wired.com/2007/06/gallery-game-history/
  14. ^ a b Hubner, John; Kistner Jr., William F. (November 28, 1983). "What went wrong at Atari?". InfoWorld. Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News. p. 151. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  15. ^ "Stream of video games is endless". Milwaukee Journal. December 26, 1982. pp. Business 1. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  16. ^ Kunkel, Bill; Worley, Joyce; Katz, Arnie (November 1988). "Video Gaming World". Computer Gaming World. p. 54.
  17. ^ "DAVID CRANE INTERVIEW (1994)". Video Game Ephemera. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ a b Beller, Peter (January 15, 2009). "Activision's Unlikely Hero". Forbes. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cite error: The named reference Gamasutra was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Hillard, Kyle (October 23, 2016). "Activision Badges – The Original Gaming Achievement". Game Informer. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  21. ^ Levi Buchanan (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN. Retrieved September 24, 2008.
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