12 Interesting Facts About Activision Blizzard That You Probably Didn't Know
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Activision Signed A Publishing Deal With Bungie
In April 2010, Activision signed a publishing deal with Bungie that expires in 2020. According to terms agreed by both parties, the new intellectual property created by Bungie will not be owned by Activision.
As long as the contract is active, Activision maintains the right to publish all video games created by Bungie for any given platform. Together, both companies have worked on a couple of projects so far: Destiny and Destiny 2. The two multiplayer first-person shooter titles in the series are considered to be incredibly successful.
Activision Signed A Publishing Deal With Bungie
In April 2010, Activision signed a publishing deal with Bungie that expires in 2020. According to terms agreed by both parties, the new intellectual property created by Bungie will not be owned by Activision.
As long as the contract is active, Activision maintains the right to publish all video games created by Bungie for any given platform. Together, both companies have worked on a couple of projects so far: Destiny and Destiny 2. The two multiplayer first-person shooter titles in the series are considered to be incredibly successful.
Blizzard Entertainment Was Once A Seperate Entity
Vivendi Games had owned Blizzard Entertainment before Activision acquired it in 2008. The company was started by Allen Adham, Michael Morhaime, and Frank Pearce in 1991. Then Vivendi Games bought it in 1999.
While owned by Vivendi Games, Blizzard Entertainment created the massively popular role-playing game World of Warcraft, which was officially released in 2004. It is still touted as the world's most subscribed MMORPG today. Rob Pardo serves as the lead designer for the WOW series.
Nearly 2,000 Years Of 'Call of Duty' Are Played Daily
The entire Call of Duty series is dubbed as one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. Following the release of the first COD game in 2003, Activision Blizzard has succeedingly published more than a dozen entries in the series.
Gamers aggregately play Call of Duty nearly 2,000 years on a daily basis. In total, they have amassed 25 billion hours of playing COD. Also, 100 million people have played at least one of the games since the release of the first title.
'Destiny' Is Activision's Biggest New Franchise
Activision Blizzard reportedly made a total investment of half a billion dollars to develop and market Destiny, In fact, it took Bungie nearly four years to create the game.
Some dispute over initial reports that the company did spend $500 million on its development. Interestingly, what's amazing is that Destiny made over $500 million on its first day of release. Even if Bungie and Activision invested such an enormous amount of capital on the game, they have raked in more money in return.
'Guitar Hero III' Is Activision's First Video Game To Hit A Major Milestone
Activision released the first Guitar Hero in 2005, and it became a massive hit among gamers. In fact, Activision once claimed that the Guitar Hero was the third largest game franchise after Mario and the Madden series.
While there may be some who argue with the company's specific claim, there's no debate over another record made by the series. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which was released in 2007, became the first single video game title to reach $1 billion in sales.
Activision Has Sold Over 300 Million 'Skylanders' Toys
Activision also published Skylanders, one of the most popular toys-to-life action video game franchises of all time. The first game came out in 2011. By Christmas of the same year, the company's toys had been sold out and it took six weeks to produce new ones.
By 2016, over 300 million toys from the franchise were already sold. The fact is, Activision didn't expect the toys to be this popular. The massive toy sales also convinced the company to produce more games in the series.
The Biggest Musical Acts Perform At BlizzCon
Blizzard Entertainment hosts BlizzCon, a video game convention held each year. The event is a fusion of video games and pop culture. It serves as a platform for the company to promote Warcraft and its other popular video games such as Overwatch, Diablo, Hearthstone, and more.
In addition to the various activities prepared for attendees and announcements of Blizzard's upcoming video games, BlizzCon also features leading musical acts. In the past, legendary musicians, namely Ozzy Osborne, Muse, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, and Blink-182 graced the event. Over 25,000 people attend BlizzCon every year.
Activision Owns Half A Billion Active Users Thanks To The King Acquisition
In 2016, Activision acquired King, a social games development company, for $5.9 billion. This sum of money used to purchase King was sourced from a combination of company's cash and a large loan from several major banks.
King produces numerous social media and mobile games such as Candy Crush Saga. The purchase of King has given Activision an access to over half a billion active monthly users through all of the games and platforms. Activision serves as the parent company to King as it continues to produce more games.
Activision Is The First Independent Video Game Software Developer
Activision was created by four former Atari programmers in 1979. They wanted to form a third-party video company that empowers the people who create the actual games. Music executive Jim Levy and venture capitalist Richard Muchmore joined the company at the beginning.
The company's name, Activision, is a combination of the words "active" and "television." Its earliest games were created for the Atari 2600. Some of its first games include Pitfall!, Kaboom!, and River Raid.
Activision Changed Its Name And Filed For Bankruptcy
As Activision expanded to other types of content in the 1980s, it changed its name to Mediagenic. The company soon lost a patent infringement suit, leaving it with insufficient cash. As a result, Mediagenic filed a petition for a reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The company went through restructuring to pull itself out of bankruptcy. In 1992, the company's name was changed back to Activision. Since then, it has focused on publishing video games, again.
Activision Owns A Professional eSports Organization
In 2016, Activision purchased the Major League Gaming for $46 million. The league, which can trace its roots back to 2002, is the first televised video game console competition.
The acquisition's primary objective was to get Major League Gaming's streaming operation MLG.tv. Based on the terms of purchase, Major League Gaming players can only use Activision games for the competition. Although Activision owns most of the popular games in the market, it seems that this rule is very limiting.
Activision Currently Owns 18 Game Studios
As a major developer of a wide array of video games, it is not surprising that Activision owns many game studios. Currently, it owns Fun Labs, Sierra, Infinity Ward, Toys for Bob, and Raven Software.
As of 2018, Activision maintains a total of 18 studios. Many of these studios were acquired from other companies, most of which are operating in the United States. However, Activision also closed down more than 30 studios in recent years and sold seven studios to other organizations.
