THE CLOSEST global rival to EA has a new focus on Europe, with even faster growth due here than in the US, and major investment in local IP and development on the agenda.

That was the message from senior vice president of publishing Joerg Trouvain this week, as he told MCV about the ‘new Activision’ that is beginning to emerge this side of the Atlantic after a period in the doldrums.

Trouvain, who took over as Euro boss in the spring, has been encouraged by the firm’s Q1 success in its fiscal year to end of March 2008 and believes that the company is closer to firing on all cylinders as each week passes.

“The US and Europe is forecast to grow 12 per cent by the end of March, but we want to grow by 19 per cent. That would take us to $1.8 billion. And in doing so, Europe will grow faster than  the US. We’ve already done that in our Q1,” said Trouvain.

Activision is following up the success of Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3 and Transformers with blockbusters such as Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3 and Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground.

And Trouvain expects more Euro-friendly content moves, such as last year’s signing of the James Bond licence and the addition of localised tracks  for Guitar Hero.

“In terms of IP or games development, there are lots of opportunities in Europe – perhaps more than in the US. “We are evaluating when we will make our next move,” Trouvain noted.