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It’s the home of powerhouse console franchises such as Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Quake, Doom, James Bond, X-Men, Spider-Man and Transformers and enjoys a key partnership with LucasArts, but it seems that console really is just a bit-player in Activision’s business.
When asked by The Wall Street Journal if he was concerned about the future of disc-based video game sales, CEO Bobby Kotick replied:
I care a lot less. It used to be, I would religiously look at weekly retail sell-through data, but it’s a very small part of our business now.
"Today, probably 70 per cent of our operating profit comes from non-console-based video games. So, while you might see a month-to-month change or volatility against expectations, that doesn’t really get us too concerned.”
Further word from Gamasutra confirmed that that number includes digital sales of console brands such as Call of Duty.
The figures prove the importance of World of Warcraft’s 11.5m active subscribers – and go some way to explain why Kotick is so keen to take its core console IPs such as CoD to the online PC space.
