Activision

Activsion is an American video game developer and publisher. Most of the company is now owned by Vivendi SA. Activision was founded on the 1st of October, 1979 and it was the first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles.

Activision’s first games, Dragster, Boxing, Fishing Derby, and Checkers hit the shelves in 1980. These products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 console.

In 1981, David Crane's Freeway, Larry Kaplan's Kaboom!, Bob Whitehead's Stampede and Alan Miller's Ice Hockey .
In 1982, Activision released Starmaster and Barnstorming

The Crash
With Activision being one of the best, there was a lot of 'copy-cat' companies, companies that would produce low-quality games for a lower price than Activison. 1983 Failing to sell their low-quality games, the companies were picked off and shut down, leaving warehouses full of games. And retailers bought these games for $3 each, selling to shops at $4 each, with a retail price of $5. This happened right before Christmas of 1983, so as Activision released their high-quality $40 games, sales of top quality games fell to almost zero.

Getting Through the Crash
Activision began to focus on creating PC games. 1984 saw the release of Crane’s well-regarded movie game Ghostbusters as well as his Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. The latter was published across a variety of platforms including the VCS, Commodore 64, Apple, and Atari's 8-bit computers.

Unfortunately, the video game market continued to decline and Activision’s stock plummeted. With nowhere to go, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead left the company to form Accolade.

In 1988, Activision changed its name to Mediagenic. The CEO was Bruce Davis. The company established itself as a producer of business software by publishing Danny Goodman's Focal Point and Business Class as well as Paintworks and Reports. However, Mediagenic continued to release games under the Activision brand names. In 1989, it published a CD-ROM version of The Manhole – one of the first games available for PC CD drives.

Death of Mediagenic

The BHK Corporation acquired Mediagenic, with Robert Kotick replacing Bruce Davis as the CEO. The company was completely restructured, and the company re-branded itself as Activision in 1992. The headquarters were moved to Los Angeles.

Back on its Feet

With its focus completely on games, Activision got back on its feet in 1994 with the game Return to Zork. Over the next ten years, Activison published a string of titles like Mechwarrior 2. Quake II, Interstate '76, Spycraft: The Great Game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Tony Hawk Pro Skater

With the coming of the new century, Activison managed to restore itself, creating franchises like Call of Duty, Doom 3, Guitar Hero[/i] and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

On the 2nd of December, 2007, it was announced that Activision would be acquired by Vivendi, with Vivendi contributing to its gaming division and supplying cash, in exchange for a majority stake in the company. The merge took place on the 9th of July, 2008, the newly formed company is known as Activision Blizzard. Activision still exists as a subsidiary owned by Activision Blizzard.

On the 19th of June, 2009, Activision stated the company was considering dropping development support for Sony's Playstation 3. Because “The PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they [Sony] don't make it easy for us [Activison] to support the platform. It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better.” This statement aligns with the company's statements made last year, which asked for price cuts for all major seventh generation home consoles by 2009.

Software Highlights from Credited Titles

Activision's first work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1981 title, "Dragster" (Atari 2600/VCS).

The company has been involved titles released on the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC, 3DS/2DS, PSVita, Wii U, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS/DSi, iPad, iPhone, Android, PS2, Power Mac, PSP, Xbox, GameCube, GBA, N-Gage, PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, N64, Nuon, Game Boy, Saturn, Jaguar, Sega Megadrive, SNES, Amiga, Amiga AGA, ST, Sega Master System, NES, C64, Spectrum 48K, Sinclair Spectrum 128K, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 7800, Atari 5200, Atari 400/800/XL/XE, Atari 2600/VCS, Intellivision and Colecovision. Of these, "Kung Fu Panda" (Xbox 360), "Spider-Man" (PlayStation), "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro" (PlayStation), "Tony Hawk's Skateboarding" (PlayStation), "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" (PS3) has been a best selling title.

The company's most recent involvement was on the 2019 release "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare" (Xbox One).

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