Activision aims to be "most profitable entertainment co"

Activision has set itself the goal of becoming "the world's most profitable entertainment company" as executives held a pre-E3 analyst meeting in Los Angeles.

CEO and president Bobby Kotick suggested that the company could achieve its ambition within five to 10 years. He pointed out that the majority of the most profitable new franchises of recent years have originated in gaming, rather than films or other media.

Also at the meeting, as reported by website GameSpot, Activision revealed that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has now sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Kotick predicted that the next title in the series, Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops, would outsell Infinity Ward's game - pointing out that pre-orders were already tracking higher than any other Call of Duty game.

Apparently unconcerned at the possibilities of market saturation, Activision COO Thomas Tippl stated that the first person shooter audience "has an insatiable appetite for great new content."

Although no specific new games were announced, the company confirmed that new titles in the series are underway at studios Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer. A new online title aimed at Asian markets was also mentioned, but once again details were withheld.

More publicly, Activision demonstrated its current self-confidence with a huge celebrity-filled party ahead of E3, just hours ago. The event is rumoured to have cost over $5 million to stage and featured appearances from Eminem, Rihanna, Usher, Soundgarden, DJ Z-Trip, deadmau5 and several adult entertainers.

Relatively few new titles were revealed, although there was the first footage of Tony Hawk: Shred and the much rumoured Guitar Hero: Megadeth. A new trailer for franchise reboot True Crime: Hong Kong was also shown.