Activision bread and butter franchises do the business

Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith has praised the success of his company's bread and butter franchises.

Between October 1 and December 31, 2006, Activision took in $822.8 million in revenue and much of this has been attributed to the publisher's mainstay franchises. In a conference call with analysts, Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith praised franchises such as Call of Duty, Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero.

In particular Griffith praised Guitar Hero II which, despite being a PS2 only title, took more than $93 million in the US alone. He noted that the "PS2's success certainly benefited Guitar Hero and, you know, some would say Guitar Hero maybe benefited the PlayStation 2 platform as well."

Not all games proved a massive success though, with Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam only bringing in sales of $9 million. Activision has announced that the game will be coming to PS2 during the April-June 2007 quarter.

In the coming fiscal year, Griffith said Activision has 60 products heading to market and the company "will be focusing on our most successful franchises - Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, and Guitar Hero."