Activision's Dan Winters

It's an ongoing process. That was activated a few days ago - it's something we've been working on with them for a little bit of time. That's a period of time where we can figure out what the best path is with Freestyle Games. That isn't a decision made by Activision unilaterally. It's completely a collaboration between those two parties. We're still working through that process.

Not at all. There are key targets and development groups that we would love to work with, and also we're looking at unique development models. Our recent restructuring has us with a greater focus, we've got three big, tentpole titles that have a disproportionate amount of focus from our organisation. The Bungee opportunity that we have, Skylanders with Spyro, and Call of Duty.

We felt like that, right now, the market is kind of telling us it's very difficult to be a mid-tier product in the marketplace. The titles that are succeeding are very big titles, high quality titles. That seems to be capturing the attention of consumers. For that reason we decided to focus our attention and our business on making those opportunities as big as possible.

In addition to that we have taken a lot of our other products and created another business unit called the licensing business unit. That's being managed by a guy named Dave Oxford who's proven to have the kind of magic touch to take niche, really high-quality passionate type audiences and appeal to their sensibilities.

We have an entire portfolio dedicated to that audience as well. So that's a big part of our audience and a bit part of our slate. As a result if you look at where we are in the market, we also realise that we have to look for new business opportunities. We can't rely on the brands that we have on our slate. We have to look at new opportunities with development groups, with talented folks, and also with unique business models which we're not currently playing in right now.

I don't know. Bobby has proven, and we as a company have proven, that when there's the right opportunity, we're quick to move on it. I think Guitar Hero is a great example of that. I think that if someone had asked us, before we took on Guitar Hero, maybe six months before that, if we were thinking of taking on a peripheral-based music title, I bet you'd get a mixed answer on that. When that opportunity did present itself we were pretty quick to move on it. It turned out to be a pretty successful thing for the company.

I think that the console market is healthier than it's ever been, it's just a little bit more consolidated.

I think that one of the benefits of Activision is that we're very quick to move on opportunities when it's the right time and the right thing. We like to keep an open mind on anything, however I think that Bobby's been pretty clear that, up until now, he and the company haven't seen an opportunity in that space that's been worth it for us. That's probably not been where we're best applied with our energies. The point being that, if we're spinning our wheels on too many things at once, if we have too many numbers on that roulette wheel, then it becomes an opportunity cost against something else.

So our goal is to focus on what we're very good at already. To make those bigger opportunities. Then also to look aggressively for opportunities which could turn into those bigger opportunities later on.

Oh I don't think so. I think that the console market is healthier than it's ever been, it's just a little bit more consolidated. A lot of people, for various reasons, a lot friends who I've been in the business with for years, there are two things that work towards their desire to move into another space. One is that a lot of publishers started to rightsize their studios and a lot of really talented people found themselves scrambling for what their next move was going to be.

The other thing is that new business opportunities created an opportunity for people to have a balance of lifestyle that historically was not able to be the case for a lot of people. We come from a time where deadlines are a very critical part of the business. We work hard. We all work very hard. I think when people have been in the business for ten, fifteen, twenty years, their priorities shift a little bit. So, this is a balance of what kind of product people want to work on, the way that they want to reach different audiences. I think that the variety of ways of doing that is a real draw for people.

As a result, I think it's interesting. Social/casual has opened up a opportunity for people to take the experiences they've learned through the years in the console market, in the high production value world of 360/PS3, whatever that is, even film studio people coming over, and applying some mechanics, some analytic material, into making games for a broader, more casual audience. I think it's fantastic.

At the same time you've got a number of very talented people who remain working on very high production value material - and obviously with the bar being raised every single year because consumer expectation is higher, it keeps us kind of honest. Every year, Call of Duty is a better game than it was the year before. Bungie was making Halo every year. They were required to put additional quality into those products.

I think that's a really good thing for industry, there's a great deal of talent out there.