Activision
Activision, Inc. NASDAQ: ATVI was the first independent developer and distributor of computer and video games, founded on October 1, 1979. Its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 video console system, and it is now one of the largest, third party video game publishers in the world, second only to Electronic Arts.
History
Prior to the formation of Activision, video games were published exclusively by the makers of the systems the games were designed for. For example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers of the games, as they received no financial rewards for games that did well, and didn't even receive credit in the manuals. After watching a number of games turn into multi-million-dollar best sellers, a number of programmers decided they had enough and left.
Activision was the first third-party game publisher for the 2600. The company was founded by former music industry executive Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Atari did not credit its programmers when it released software titles, which is commonly cited as a reason the developers left. Levy took the approach of promoting game creators along with the games themselves.
The departure of the four programmers, whose titles made up more than half of Atari's cartridge sales at the time, caused legal action between the two companies which was not ultimately settled until 1982. As the market for game consoles started to decline, Activision branched out, producing game titles for home computers as well, and acquiring smaller publishers.
In 1982, Activision released Pitfall!, which is considered by many to be the first platform game as well as the best selling title on the 2600. Although the team's technical prowess had already been proven, it was Pitfall! that turned them into a huge success. This not only resulted in a legion of clones, including stand-up arcade games, but can be said to have launched the entire platform genre which became a major part of video games through the 1980s.
In 1985, Activision merged with struggling text adventure pioneer Infocom. Jim Levy was a big fan of Infocom's titles and wanted Infocom to remain solvent. However, about six months after the "InfoWedding", Bruce Davis took over as CEO of Activision. Davis was against the merger from the start and was heavy-handed in management of them. He also forced marketing changes on Infocom which caused sales of their games to plummet. Eventually, in 1989, after several years of losses, Activision closed down the Infocom studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts extending to only 11 of the 26 employees an offer to relocate to Activision's headquarters in Silicon Valley; five did.
In 1988 Activision started to get involved in other types of software besides video games, such as business applications. As a result, Activision changed its corporate name to Mediagenic in order to have a name that would globally represent all its fields of activities.(Mediagenic is often mistaken to be a company that purchased Activision but in reality it was only Activision with a different name). Despite this change, Mediagenic continued to largely use the Activision brand on its video games of the various platforms it was publishing for, notably the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Master System, the Atari 7800, Commodore 64 and Amiga. The decision of the company to get involved in various fields at the expense of video gaming proved to be a move so bad that in 1992 Mediagenic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The first Activision was "dead".
The new Activision
The failure of Mediagenic resulted in a reorganization and merger with The Disc Company with Mediagenic again being the acquirer. After emerging from bankruptcy, Mediagenic officially changed its entity name back to Activision in the state of Delaware on December 1992. At that point Activision moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Southern California. While emerging from bankruptcy, it continued to develop games for PCs and video game consoles and resumed making strategic acquisitions. Activision chose from then on to only concentrate itself in video gaming and nothing else.
In 1991 Activision packaged 20 of Infocom's past games into a CD-ROM collection called The Lost Treasures of Infocom sans most of the "feelies" Infocom was famous for. The success of this compilation led to the 1992 release of 11 more Infocom titles in The Lost Treasures of Infocom II.
In 2003, Activision, along with several other game software publishers, was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its accounting practices, namely the use of the "return reserve" to allegedly smooth quarterly results.
In 2004, the company marked its 25th anniversary, and stated that it had posted record earnings and the twelfth consecutive year of revenue growth.
Notable published titles
* The Movies
* Apocalypse
* Asteroids (1998 version based on the classic)
* Battlezone (computer game)
* Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing
* Call of Duty
* Call of Duty: United Offensive
* Call of Duty: Finest Hour
* Call of Duty 2
* Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
* Civilization: Call to Power
* Call to Power II
* Draw Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Dark Reign
* Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
* Doom 3
* GBA Championship Basketball: Two on Two
* Ghostbusters
* Grand Prix (for the Atari 2600)
* Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball
* Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D
* GUN (2005)
* Hacker
* Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers
* Heretic II
* HeXen II
* Intellivision Classic Games
* Interstate '76
* Interstate '82
* Kaboom! (for the Atari 2600)
* Keystone Kapers (for the Atari 2600)
* List Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Little Computer People
* Lost Kingdoms
* Lost Kingdoms II
* Madagascar
* Manhole, The (1992 re-release)
* Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX
* Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2
* MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
* MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy
* Music Studio
* Minority Report: Everybody Runs
* Nightmare Creatures
* Nightmare Creatures II
* Paintworks Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Paintworks Gold (for the Apple IIGS)
* Pitfall! (for the Atari 2600)
* Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
* Plaque Attack (for the Atari 2600)
* Power Move Pro Wrestling
* Quake
* Quake II
* Quake III Arena
* Quake 4
* Return to Castle Wolfenstein
* River Raid (1982)
* Rome: Total War
* Shanghai
* Shrek 2
* Soldier of Fortune
* Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
* Spider-Man: The Movie
* Spider-Man 2: The Movie
* Spycraft: The Great Game
* Star Trek: Armada
* Star Trek: Armada II
* Star Trek: Away Team
* Star Trek: Bridge Commander
* Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force
* Star Trek: Elite Force II
* Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3
* Tass Times In Tonetown
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
* Tony Hawk's Underground
* Tony Hawk's Underground 2
* Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
* True Crime: Streets of LA
* True Crime: New York City
* Vigilante 8
* Vigilante_8:_Second_Offense
* Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
* Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption
* Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
* World Series of Poker (2005)
* Writer's Choice Elite (for the Apple IIGS)
* Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997)
* Zork: Nemesis (1996)
History
Prior to the formation of Activision, video games were published exclusively by the makers of the systems the games were designed for. For example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers of the games, as they received no financial rewards for games that did well, and didn't even receive credit in the manuals. After watching a number of games turn into multi-million-dollar best sellers, a number of programmers decided they had enough and left.
Activision was the first third-party game publisher for the 2600. The company was founded by former music industry executive Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Atari did not credit its programmers when it released software titles, which is commonly cited as a reason the developers left. Levy took the approach of promoting game creators along with the games themselves.
The departure of the four programmers, whose titles made up more than half of Atari's cartridge sales at the time, caused legal action between the two companies which was not ultimately settled until 1982. As the market for game consoles started to decline, Activision branched out, producing game titles for home computers as well, and acquiring smaller publishers.
In 1982, Activision released Pitfall!, which is considered by many to be the first platform game as well as the best selling title on the 2600. Although the team's technical prowess had already been proven, it was Pitfall! that turned them into a huge success. This not only resulted in a legion of clones, including stand-up arcade games, but can be said to have launched the entire platform genre which became a major part of video games through the 1980s.
In 1985, Activision merged with struggling text adventure pioneer Infocom. Jim Levy was a big fan of Infocom's titles and wanted Infocom to remain solvent. However, about six months after the "InfoWedding", Bruce Davis took over as CEO of Activision. Davis was against the merger from the start and was heavy-handed in management of them. He also forced marketing changes on Infocom which caused sales of their games to plummet. Eventually, in 1989, after several years of losses, Activision closed down the Infocom studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts extending to only 11 of the 26 employees an offer to relocate to Activision's headquarters in Silicon Valley; five did.
In 1988 Activision started to get involved in other types of software besides video games, such as business applications. As a result, Activision changed its corporate name to Mediagenic in order to have a name that would globally represent all its fields of activities.(Mediagenic is often mistaken to be a company that purchased Activision but in reality it was only Activision with a different name). Despite this change, Mediagenic continued to largely use the Activision brand on its video games of the various platforms it was publishing for, notably the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Master System, the Atari 7800, Commodore 64 and Amiga. The decision of the company to get involved in various fields at the expense of video gaming proved to be a move so bad that in 1992 Mediagenic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The first Activision was "dead".
The new Activision
The failure of Mediagenic resulted in a reorganization and merger with The Disc Company with Mediagenic again being the acquirer. After emerging from bankruptcy, Mediagenic officially changed its entity name back to Activision in the state of Delaware on December 1992. At that point Activision moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Southern California. While emerging from bankruptcy, it continued to develop games for PCs and video game consoles and resumed making strategic acquisitions. Activision chose from then on to only concentrate itself in video gaming and nothing else.
In 1991 Activision packaged 20 of Infocom's past games into a CD-ROM collection called The Lost Treasures of Infocom sans most of the "feelies" Infocom was famous for. The success of this compilation led to the 1992 release of 11 more Infocom titles in The Lost Treasures of Infocom II.
In 2003, Activision, along with several other game software publishers, was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its accounting practices, namely the use of the "return reserve" to allegedly smooth quarterly results.
In 2004, the company marked its 25th anniversary, and stated that it had posted record earnings and the twelfth consecutive year of revenue growth.
Notable published titles
* The Movies
* Apocalypse
* Asteroids (1998 version based on the classic)
* Battlezone (computer game)
* Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing
* Call of Duty
* Call of Duty: United Offensive
* Call of Duty: Finest Hour
* Call of Duty 2
* Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
* Civilization: Call to Power
* Call to Power II
* Draw Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Dark Reign
* Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
* Doom 3
* GBA Championship Basketball: Two on Two
* Ghostbusters
* Grand Prix (for the Atari 2600)
* Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball
* Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D
* GUN (2005)
* Hacker
* Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers
* Heretic II
* HeXen II
* Intellivision Classic Games
* Interstate '76
* Interstate '82
* Kaboom! (for the Atari 2600)
* Keystone Kapers (for the Atari 2600)
* List Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Little Computer People
* Lost Kingdoms
* Lost Kingdoms II
* Madagascar
* Manhole, The (1992 re-release)
* Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX
* Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2
* MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
* MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy
* Music Studio
* Minority Report: Everybody Runs
* Nightmare Creatures
* Nightmare Creatures II
* Paintworks Plus (for the Apple IIGS)
* Paintworks Gold (for the Apple IIGS)
* Pitfall! (for the Atari 2600)
* Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
* Plaque Attack (for the Atari 2600)
* Power Move Pro Wrestling
* Quake
* Quake II
* Quake III Arena
* Quake 4
* Return to Castle Wolfenstein
* River Raid (1982)
* Rome: Total War
* Shanghai
* Shrek 2
* Soldier of Fortune
* Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
* Spider-Man: The Movie
* Spider-Man 2: The Movie
* Spycraft: The Great Game
* Star Trek: Armada
* Star Trek: Armada II
* Star Trek: Away Team
* Star Trek: Bridge Commander
* Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force
* Star Trek: Elite Force II
* Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3
* Tass Times In Tonetown
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
* Tony Hawk's Underground
* Tony Hawk's Underground 2
* Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
* True Crime: Streets of LA
* True Crime: New York City
* Vigilante 8
* Vigilante_8:_Second_Offense
* Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
* Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption
* Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
* World Series of Poker (2005)
* Writer's Choice Elite (for the Apple IIGS)
* Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997)
* Zork: Nemesis (1996)
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