Last night I got back from Activate Asia 08, Activision’s annual Asia-Pacific conference for retail and media. The Activision Blizzard branding was in full force, from banners to name tags to bags. It was everywhere.
A few newsworthy nuggets emerged from the event, such as Activision Blizzard’s risk/market chart, which the company’s new senior vice president, the chocolate-coated Philip Earl, talked us through on the event’s second day.
The chart shows how Activision Blizzard perceives its upcoming titles. I’ve made a rather crude rendition of it above, so I don’t have to confuse myself trying to explain it. The diagram is a bit boring, but it’s the contents that made it exciting.Titles such as World of Warcraft, Force Unleashed and Quantum of Solace were located in the Established IP – Core gamers quadrant, while Crash Bandicoot and Spyro were firmly entrenched in the Established IP – Family/Casual part. Pretty standard stuff, right?
Almost. Fracture, the poor thing, was all alone in the New IP – Core gamers market, while Spider-Man: Web of Shadows ended up in the Established IP – Family/Casual area. Unsurprisingly, the New IP – Family Casual box was empty.
Web of Shadows is shaping up alright, but one has to wonder what direction Activision Blizzard will take the franchise in the future, if the primary market is Family – Casual. I for one do not want to see repeats of Spider-Man 3 or Friend or Foe.
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