Headlines

July 10, 2008

Guitar Hero maker developing iTunes competitor...

Financial Times | Read Full Story >

Financial Times:

Activision Blizzard, the games company formed by the merger of Activision with Vivendi’s games unit, plans to capitalise on the popularity of its Guitar Hero franchise by developing an online music platform that could rival iTunes.

In an interview with the FT, Bobby Kotick, the chief executive of the new company, said creating a Guitar Hero online music platform was “the natural evolution” of a franchise that has sold close to 20m units and generated $1bn in revenues.

“I don’t think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential,” he said, adding players could already download “note tracks” to use while playing the game.

The merger of Activision with Vivendi Games completed on Thursday. The new company will benefit from Vivendi’s ownership of Universal Music, as well as payment and processing capability in “virtually every country”, said Jean-Bernard Levy, the chief executive of Vivendi.

“These are all the things that enable you to be a successful competitor [to iTunes],” added Mr Kotick.



Click Here