Activision – the largest third-party publisher for video game consoles

Click Entertainment is a distributor and wholesale supplier of Activision published games.

About Activision:

Activision is the largest third-party publisher in the world. It became the first third-party developer for video game consoles, and is famous for popular franchises Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Tony Hawk.

History:

Activision was originally founded on October 1 1979, by former music industry executive Jim Levy along with former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller, and Bob Whitehead. They became the first independent developer and distributor of video games, developing its first games for the Atari 2600. Activision was founded Activision’s first game release came in the form of Pitfall! in 1982. Pitfall! quickly became one of best selling Atari 2600 games ever selling over 4 million copies.

On June 13, 1986, Activision merged with Infocom due to Jim Levy being a big fan of the company and did not want to see them fall. Six months later, Bruce Davis, who was heavily against the merger, became CEO of Activision. In 1989, the Infocom studios were finally closed by Activision putting 21 out of 26 employees out of business.

In 1988, Activision moved on to produce more software outside of the video game industry and changed its corporate name to Mediagenic. Activision continued to develop video games, however, for many platforms including the NES, Sega Master System, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and Amiga.

In the following years, Mediagenic had multiple financial issues including patent infringement suits and eventually was taken over by Robert Kotick, an investor group lead. The company eventually filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and merged with The Disc Company. Mediagenic started to rise out of bankruptcy, made some strategic acquisitions, and changed its name back to Activision in December 1992. Activision also moved its headquarters from Mountain View in the Silicon Valley to Santa Monica, CA deciding as well to produce only video games from that point on.

In 1991, Activision released The Lost Treasures of Infocom which was a package of 20 Infocom games on one disc. A year later, Activision released another 11 games in The Lost Treasures of Infocom II.

Acquisitions & Partnerships

1997

Partnership with Raven Software.

Acquired CentreSoft, Ltd.

Acquired NBG Distribution.

1998

Founded Pandemic Studios.

Partnership with Marvel Entertainment.

Partnership with Head Game Publishing.

Partnership with Disney Interactive.

Partnership with LucasArts Entertainment.

Partnership with CD Contact Data.

1999

Acquired Neversoft.

Acquired Expert Software.

2000

Acquired Gray Matter Interactive.

2001

Acquired Treyarch.

2002

Acquired Z-Axis, Ltd.

Acquired Luxoflux Corporation.

2003

Partnership with DreamWorks SKG.

Partnership with Valve.

Partnership with Shaba Games, LLC.

Partnership with Sega.

Acquired Infinity Ward.

2005

Acquired Vicarious Visions.

Acquired Toys For Bob.

Acquired Beenox.

2006

Acquired RedOctane.

2007

Partnership with MGM Interactive.

Acquired Bizarre Creations.

Acquired Demonware.

2008

Giant merger with Vivendi to become Activision Blizzard.

2010

10 Year Partnership with Bungie.