Record Q1 results for Activision as Spider-Man and Shrek sell millions

Publisher Activision has reported record revenues for the first quarter of its fiscal year, thanks mostly to the strong performance of Shrek 2 and Spider-Man 2, putting the company on target to exceed $1bn in revenue this year.

Revenue for the three months to June 30th was $211.3 million, a climb of $52.6 million over last year's figure of $158.7 million in the same quarter, while year on year, income climbed $7.8 million to $12 million.

The record figures for the company were driven largely by movie licenses Shrek 2 and Spider-Man 2, which have shipped over five million units between them. Spider-Man 2 is expected to have a significant positive impact on the company's second quarter results as well; sell-through on the title is thought to have topped a million units already.

The company also received a revenue boost from the launch of True Crime: Streets of LA on the PC during the quarter, and Activision confirmed that it is planning sequels to all three of its big titles of the year to date - with new instalments in the True Crime, Shrek and Spider-Man franchises due in fiscal 2006 (which runs from April 2005), along with the previously announced Tony Hawk and Quake sequels.

For the remainder of the year, Activision is on target to exceed $1 billion in revenues, with $254 million in revenues expected for the second quarter, and $515 million in the third quarter - which includes the important Christmas period.

The second quarter will see a major boost not only from continuing sales of Spider-Man 2, but from the launch of Doom 3, which is due at the start of August. The id Software developed title is already rumoured to be Activision's best-selling PC game ever thanks to a strong pre-order campaign; an Xbox version is currently pencilled in for December 2004, although the final decision on when it launches will lie with developers id and Vicarious Visions.

The company also confirmed that it intends to support both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP handheld consoles when they launch in the United States, with at least one launch title planned for each platform. Activision's early PSP and DS titles will be based on well-established franchises, rather than new IP.

CEO Bobby Kotick played down the importance of PSP and DS in the current financial year in the company's results conference call, however, saying that the firm has "very modest expectations" with regard to their earnings potential in FY2005, although he expects both platforms to become major contributors to revenues in the long term.

President Ron Doornink also discussed the company's approach to next-generation console development briefly, confirming that it has "development efforts underway" and plans to have launch titles on all three fifth-gen home consoles.