While I don't think Activision has been incredibly innovative in recent years, between releasing sequels to titles that have been mediocre at best and drawing from the well with titles such as the upcoming remake of Tony Hawks Pro Skater, I think that Activision may need to learn a lesson from EA and start to create new IP's so they can then leech off them in a few years. 

Activision themselves, however do not believe they are not innovative as a recent interview with Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg on Gamasutra had him commenting on the company's innovation including that "It's simply a fallacy to say that we're not innovating, or that we're not attempting to bring new IP and new ideas to the industry." Hirschberg says that they're being innovative but what they're really doing is making very careful choices and focusing on areas where they think they can make something unique and have a real competitive advantage.

Hirschberg said that Activision and innovation is for everyone and is now the best time to do so. He said that gamers are "voluntarily spending more and more time with games that they love and that by nature drives you to innovate within those franchises, as opposed to maybe the behaviour we say a few years ago, where people grazed more and sampled things from different categories and moved on. What Hirschberg is trying to say is that people need to focus on more core gamer markets as they are where the money and people are at now. If people stick with a franchise through, oh I don't know, say eight games and it makes them over three billion in the process, that it might be best to stay there.

Hirschberg pointed out innovation in Activision by mentioning Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.... which, if you remember Spyro, who made his debut in 1998, is not that freaking innovative. Also mentioned Call of Duty: Elite and Modern Warfare 3, which, I just don't want to even go there, but Hirschberg called it " incremental innovations." Hirschberg did say that with Innovation, that it is a "hard creative assignment, staying true to the things that people love about a franchise while also figuring out new ways to make it fresh that don't ruin what people loved about it in the first place," he said. "There are very few places on our slate where I don't see innovation."

Via [Gamasutra]

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