Activision Blizzard Planning Guitar Hero IV, Call of Duty V

As part of the details emerging from the recent merger of Activision and Blizzard, Activision has announced its product pipeline for titles in development including return franchise entries as well as entries in new genres for the company. Though perhaps unsurprising given their already strong success, Activision has said Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty V, are currently in the works, as well as a new Tony Hawk, a James Bond title, and new titles based on Marvel and DreamWorks IPs. The company also has highlighted its planned "entry into racing" with its recent acquisition, Bizarre Creations. Activision has said that acquisition was a "step in Activision’s ongoing strategy to enter new genres", adding the racing game market, which Bizarre entered with its Project Gotham Racing series for Microsoft Game Studios, is "a $1.4 billion market that ... represents more than 10% of the total video game market worldwide." The pipeline games were disclosed along with other transaction details of the recenly-announced merger between Activision and Vivendi to create Activision Blizzard, which aims to have approximately $3.8 billion in combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher.