Activision releases new details on 2008 line-up
In a recent earnings conference call, which swiftly followed the announcement of strong fiscal year and Q4 financial results, Activision was ready to talk a bit more about the games scheduled for release during fiscal 2009 which ends March 31st, 2009. Make the jump for the latest on Call of Duty 5, Guitar Hero, the next Tony Hawk iteration, and the company’s first James Bond title.
After pointing out that the life-to-date sales of the Guitar Hero series stand at 19 million “versus only three million from our only competitor” (read: Rock Band), the company chairman and CEO, Bobby Kotick, reiterated that fiscal 2009 will see the release of three new Guitar Hero titles – Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero IV, and the yet-to-be-unveiled new installment. When asked whether other peripherals would be added to the series further down the road, Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffin spoke up, saying that the franchise is “extremely expandable,” and also revealed that we’ll know more about the next main entry (most likely Guitar Hero IV) within a couple of weeks.
Guitar Hero III
The company then put a spotlight on the Call of Duty franchise and reconfirmed that a new entry is in development for this fiscal year. Fans who feared the series would revisit the World War II setting can breathe a sigh of relief, as Activision debunked the rumours by stating that Call of Duty 5 is set in “a new military theater.” Before moving on, it was said that the company’s first James Bond game will be powered by Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4 engine and will release alongside the upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, this Fall.
Following Activision’s reassuring comments with regard to the future of the Tony Hawk franchise back in February, like “we need to step up innovation,” Griffith stated that the firm is “inventing Tony from the ground up.” Unlike Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground which was churned out only a year after the release of Project 8 in November 2006, the next console iteration in the series won’t be out until April 2009 at the earliest. Griffith feels pretty confident that the title in question will bring the franchise back on its feet:
“For competitive reasons we’re not going to talk about it today, but we’re very bullish on the kind of innovation it will bring, and it won’t be your father’s Tony Hawk.”
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
There you go! Now comment away in the usual place about the future of Activision’s key franchises.
Thanks to Voyager2k for submitting.
Source: Gamasutra
Did you hear that everybody:
C A L L O F D U T Y 5 !!!!!!!!
COD5…will that be by Infinity Ward again this time? No Treyarch COD3 style plz
^COD5 will be done by Treyarch this time around, i’m guessing Infinity Ward are working on COD:Modern Warfare 2 as we speak.
I’m just gonna wait for the next REAL Call of Duty from Infinity Ward not the game that Treyarch made and put the Call of Duty name on. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, the multiplayer wasn’t bad, but hey maybe Treyarch will prove me wrong.
“the multiplayer wasn’t bad”
I’d say that COD3s multiplayer was a great improvement to COD2s multiplayer. I’m glad Trayarch is going it again this time around.
lol @ the “real” COD. The series proved itself when United Offense came out. COD1 was good but UO is what really make it stand out online. IW is great but I’ve enjoyed the non-IW releases as much, if not more.
I hated the online of CoD3… 2 was way better, there was no excitement in playing online anymore… and so I almost never played the game… it was just one big failure if you’d ask me
I hated the online of CoD2…3 was way better, there was no life or soul in CoD2 and I like controlling vehicles. CoD2 looked like it should have been on a PS2
Totally agree. COD2 multiplayer was great fun, but COD3 was ruined by poor multiplayer level design with far too much emphasis on snipers. It just wasn’t possible to get any decent “up close and personal” action without getting mown down every 3 seconds because of some noob sniper. COD4 is the bomb though, far superior to either of the previous two incarnations. The only thing missing from COD4 is online achievements. Would have liked to have seen some achievements for ranking up in the game. That would give some extra incentive to play it online.
Agreed, CoD 4 is missing online Achievements
Confirmed. What you stated is, indeed, a fact.
they are all good games, cod2’s singleplayer was very good, as is cod4s. cod3 had a great multiplayer, but not as good as cod4s. all of them make medal of honor and the like look stupid, and all have been fun to play.
tonyhawks should die, skate 2 is the future