Video Game Reviews 4 You

Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

While rival Electronic Arts has been acquiring companies to establish itself in the new mobile and social marketplaces, Activision has been focusing on its console business only. People have been wondering if Activision even intended to compete in the space, given that the Call of Duty franchise and Blizzard’s properties are doing so well for the company. While at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference in New York, Activision CFO Thomas Tippl revealed that the company has thought about mobile and social, but won’t be jumping into those spaces until it can dominate.

"We're methodically investing in social and mobile gaming projects," he said. "... While our goal is always to be number one in anything we do, even if we only get to half of our fair share in mobile and social over the next three years, it will still represent a significant upside, given that the mobile and social gaming markets have finally reached critical mass. And I expect it to grow at a double-digit clip for the foreseeable future."

"We are certainly expanding the reach of our franchises through the platforms that are emerging," Tippl continued.

Like EA is currently doing, Activision intends to leverage its current portfolio of IPs for mobile and social titles, but Tippl also noted that new projects could be created for those platforms.

“To date, we've mostly [explored social and mobile] around our existing franchises. In the future you will see more activity on our part to broaden our social and mobile parts of the portfolio," said Tippl. "But it's going to be done in a thoughtful, methodical way and in a way that will tend to create value for our shareholders, as opposed to venture capitalists and private equity firms [that are contributing to] what I would call a bubble valuation."

Can Activision mirror its current success in these emerging markets?