Activision-Blizzard is not a company that ignores the bottom line. Their latest conference call to investors and quarterly financial report made this point abundantly clear with announcements leaving a wake of studio restructurings, layoffs, game cancellations and a whole lot more Call of Duty.
So what games are getting the ax? Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and True Crime: Hong Kong.
While the investor call or report didn’t make it clear what the plans for each franchise are past 2011, no Guitar Hero, or DJ Hero games are coming this year, with True Crime: Hong Kong canceled altogether. The implosion of the music game industry continues with layoffs at FreeStyle Games (DJ Hero), as well as with the dissolution of the Guitar Hero Publishing Group – a decision that was “based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world’s best interactive entertainment experiences.”
Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirschberg further stated that,
“Despite a remarkable 92 rating on DJ Hero 2, a widely well-regarded Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as a 90-plus rated release from our most direct competitor, demand for peripheral-based music games declined at a dramatic pace. Given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot make these games profitably based on current economics and demand. Instead, what we’ll do is focus our time and energies on marketing and supporting our strong catalog of titles and downloadable content, especially to new consumers as the installed base for hardware continues to grow.”
Unfortunately, the ramifications of the decision to scale back Guitar Hero and DJ Hero development are already being felt as no further DLC will be made available for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock or DJ Hero 2 past the previously announced content slated for release this month.
With their departure from the rhythm game genre, it seems as if Activision-Blizzard is continuing to look to the Call of Duty brand to pick up the slack. A venture with the newly formed Beachhead Studio was announced during the conference call as what Bobby Kotick stated was working on “an innovative new digital platform and special services for our Call of Duty community,” Continuing that
“Beachhead will create the best-in-class online community, exclusive content, and a suite of services to supercharge the online gaming experience like never before. The platform will support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time. The platform has been in development for over a year and we’re very excited about the increased value we can bring to the community. We look forward to sharing more specifics on this exciting new endeavor with you in the near future.”
How it is being pitched makes the project at Beachead likely the Call of Duty subscription service that has been speculated and rumored about for the past couple years.
The call also revealed that Activision-Blizzard are not forecasting a Blizzard developed game this fiscal year, but are expecting two games to ship in 2012 (presumably Starcraft II-2 and Diablo 3).
The full financial report can be read here (with the conference call transcript here), if you are curious as to just how much money the mega-publisher has made over the past quarter and year.
I for one and am gonna hook up my PS2 and pour one out for Guitar Hero, a mishandled franchise driven into the ground for the sake of the almighty dollar.
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