Alex,
Re: plans
Things sound good. I've been too busy to really sit down and go over the financials and barely listened to the conf. call yesterday. I must have been hearing things with "viacom" being verant. That didn't make sense at the time....it makes even less sense now....oh well.
Here's another summary:
well-rounded.com
Activision, Verant to team for massively multiplayer Star Trek game
After hinting at it three months ago, Activision has announced that it will team with Verant Interactive (creators of the wildly successful EverQuest) and Sony Online to create a massively multiplayer, persistent game based in the Star Trek universe. The company, during a conference call with financial analysts yesterday, said the game will be part of a larger expansion into the online world.
Activision says it expects between 400,000 and 500,000 subscribers to the game, which would make it the largest online game to date. More amazingly, it expects to hit these numbers in its first four months.
Though it's not expected to launch for another two years, the game looks to be enormous. Activision and Sony will split the expected $4 million in production costs. The company says it will charge users a $9.95 monthly fee at launch. It further appears, that Q Continuum, the online Star Trek game mentioned three months ago has undergone a name change to Star Trek: Conquest Online. Developed in conjunction with Genetic Anomalies, the game will utilize player cards, similar to Magic: The Gathering. (For a more complete preview of the game, click here.
Activision is also looking for new areas to expand into. The company has struck a deal with Nokia to create games for cellular phones, though it didn't expand or give any titles for that plan. Preparations continue to take advantage of the forthcoming Next Generation console machines, as well. Activision will create several titles for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Dolphin. Among these, it turns out, is Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the recently announced sequel to the classic first person shooter. Activision says the game will not only be developed for the PC, but "for all next generation platforms."
Does that include the long-rumored Microsoft X-Box? All the company would say was "we're banned by our non-disclosure agreement from discussing (the X-Box) other than to say we're developing for it."
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