BoomTown » Activision Blizzard

Smells Like Mean Spirit: Courtney Love Collects Check From Guitar Hero, but Goes on Twitter Rampage Anyway

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:59:24 +0000

Courtney Love went into a Twitter frenzy yesterday, threatening to sue Activision Blizzard (ATVI) over of its use of the image of her late husband and grunge music legend Kurt Cobain in the latest version of its popular music game, Guitar Hero.

Some tweet gems:

“not in twenty JILLION years would i EVER have allowed this and this is lethal.”

“we get NO money for this, travesty, Frances gets NO money for the rape.”

Except, oops, Love signed the contract herself and also, sources said, the check has long been cashed from Activision.

Smells like mean spirit!

“Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5,” said Activision in a statement.

Cobain, who killed himself in 1994, is an “unlockable” character in the Guitar Hero 5 game recently released. When a character is unlockable, the avatar can play other songs too.

So, presumably Cobain could play Bon Jovi, which apparently pisses Love off.

In fact, Love’s lawyer told the TMZ.com Web site: “Activision is exploiting Kurt’s image in a manner anathema to the very essence of his music, spirit and essence. I along with Ms. Cobain hope those who love Kurt’s music strongly voice their sentiments to Activision and demand his image not be debased by singing the songs of Bon Jovi.”

But one still has to wonder why Love–who is now better known for her wacky antics than her own music (you can see a list of some of her frequent outbursts here from Entertainment Weekly)–chose to go nuts now rather than before the game was released.

Well, BoomTown has a very good guess, but I will keep it to myself!

So until the more dulcet meds kick in for Love, here’s a video from a recent tour I did at Guitar Hero HQ in Silicon Valley, on the release of GH5:

[ See post to watch video ]

Digital Management Musical Chairs: The Tooth-Free Edition

Kara Swisher — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Brad Garlinghouse’s appointment to a new job at AOL today as its new communications czar is yet another sign of an interesting trend for those keeping score of the comings and goings of top Internet execs.

Garlinghouse came to the Time Warner (TWX) online unit after a year-long break, preceded by six years at Yahoo (YHOO).

As anyone who watches the digital space knows by now, this kind of management musical chairs is common and never-ending.

In fact, borrowing a quote by IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) CEO and chairman Barry Diller from an onstage interview I did with him at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference and switching out Hollywood for Silicon Valley: “[It] is a community that’s so inbred, it’s a wonder the children have any teeth.”

But, given all the movement of late, this insider seat-switching seems more frantic than ever, as allegiances shift, competitors become friends and colleagues become rivals faster than you can tweet.

When he left Yahoo last summer, in fact, the digital chatter was that Garlinghouse would take a job either as a venture capitalist (he had been one once) or helming a start-up (that too, at Dialpad.com).

In fact, sources said, Garlinghouse had been considering two mobile gigs, but opted for helping to try to overhaul a troubled Web giant.

Fixing messes was the impetus of Owen Van Natta, who left a top job at social networking giant Facebook in early 2008 and by the end of the year, headed over to run Project Playlist, a controversial online music-sharing service.

But then he had hightailed it by spring to try his hand at reviving MySpace, as its CEO.

His boss, News Corp. (NWS) digital head Jon Miller, did the same, getting the hook (unfairly to my mind) at AOL several years ago and then creating an investment firm with former MySpace head Ross Levinsohn.

The pair considered being part of a bid to oust Yahoo management in 2008.

Miller’s freedom lasted only until he got an offer that he presumably could not refuse from News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch recently. (Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

The list goes on, chock full of ex-Yahoos, in fact.

Its one-time COO, Dan Rosensweig, left the company in 2006, for example, and joined the well-known private-equity firm, Quadrangle Group.

But, soon enough, he was scooped up by Activision Blizzard (ATVI) to run its Guitar Hero division.

Yahoo Network head Jeff Weiner also departed from the Internet giant, in mid-2008, for a stint at two VC firms.

He landed at LinkedIn, the business-networking service where he was named CEO in late June.

Greg Coleman ran Yahoo ad sales until mid-2007 before taking a job at AOL earlier this year, which he lost after it got new management soon after.

At Yahoo, Coleman sparked with former advertising sales head Wenda Harris Millard, whom he ousted. She went onto Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) and left there this spring for the Media Link consultancy.

Presto! She is now helping MySpace’s Van Natta fix the social networking site’s ad business.

Current Yahoo U.S. advertising head Joanne Bradford actually came from Microsoft last summer, via her own short visit to the troubled ad start-up SpotRunner.

Former Yahoo search techie Qi Lu now runs digital for Microsoft (MSFT), along with a big gang of ex-Yahoo techies he has recruited.

And Scott Moore is even better at the switcheroo. He was at Microsoft running MSN U.S. content, switched to Yahoo as its media poobah, left last year to consider a start-up and then headed back to Microsoft as head of U.S. content this year.

But former Google (GOOG) execs have also been busy shuttling hither and yon, mostly to innovative start-ups.

Of course, many find refuge at Facebook (COO Sheryl Sandberg, PR major domo Elliot Schrage and many more) and Twitter (GC Alexander Macgillivray and COO Dick Costolo).

Recent departures–such as Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, who landed at Accel Partners for now–are also likely to find new homes soon enough.

And, of course, there’s always Garlinghouse’s new boss, former Google ad head Tim Armstrong, who took over at AOL earlier this year.

We’ll skip former Joost CEO and former Cisco (CSCO) exec Mike Volpi (who is now a VC); former Netscape Communications/short-term VC/ex-banker/current-for-now CBS (CBS) digital head Quincy Smith; and Joanna Shields, who has worked at Real Networks (RNWK), Google and Bebo (which was bought by AOL)–for now.

Because, around and around and around it always goes, as you can see in this funny video below, which I posted previously:

[Musical Chair designed by Jacob Mathew.]

Guitar Hero's Dan Rosensweig Speaks!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:25:18 +0000

Yesterday, BoomTown did a tour of the Mountain View, Calif., HQ of Guitar Hero, which is poised for a series of launches, including the fifth version of Guitar Hero and new music games Band Hero and DJ Hero.

While there, I interviewed CEO Dan Rosensweig, the well-known Silicon Valley exec who was once COO of Yahoo (YHOO) and who took over the high-profile division of Activision Blizzard (ATVI) in May in what was a bit of a surprise move into the music gaming industry.

Rosensweig had been working in private equity since his departure from Yahoo in late 2006. Previous to that, he worked at CNET Networks and Ziff-Davis.

Except that Rosensweig is a well known music fan–for example, having crisscrossed the country to see Bruce Springsteen play innumerable times–so he seems to be pretty happy with his new gig when I talked to him.

He certainly has a big job ahead, considering renewed competition from Viacom (VIA) in the form of its soon-to-be-released Beatles version of the competing Rock Band game, as well as a big slump in sales in the music game category.

The question is: Can innovation keep Guitar Hero alive? So far, the reviews for the new version are strong, but whether they translate into sales will be closely watched.

Rosensweig talked about that and more in this video interview:

[ See post to watch video ]

Kara Visits Guitar Hero HQ (for a Sneak Peek of GH5, Band Hero and DJ Hero)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:01:11 +0000

Despite the challenges the music gaming industry has been facing of late–such as sales dropping, yipes, almost 50 percent in the U.S. this year–the top companies in the field are still churning out new products like it’s nobody’s business.

Well, actually, they are hoping it is going to be somebody’s business–namely, theirs–as they seek to reinvigorate the category, which has been one of the most innovative over the last several years.

Case in point is a spate of new products from the Guitar Hero division of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which is coming out this fall with three separate major launches.

The fifth version of Guitar Hero arrives tomorrow with 85 tracks, more famous player characters and new features; the family-aimed Band Hero comes out soon after that; and then–in what is probably the most important debut of the three–DJ Hero will be released on October 27.

In that game, a player can turn into some kind of club king, scratching along with unusual mashups that Guitar Hero provides with the new game, which are heavy on hip-hop (versus Guitar Hero’s more typical rock and roll vibe).

[In related news, one of the key player characters in DJ Hero--DJ AM, whose real name was Adam Goldstein--was found dead in his apartment in New York on Friday night.)

Nonetheless, the show will go on.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of DJ AM," said Tim Riley, Activision VP of music affairs, in a statement. "We hope that his work on the game will be a fitting tribute to his creative spirit and musical talent."]

Does this burst of energy coming from Guitar Hero, which has heretofore dominated the music game space, have to do with the Sept. 9 debut of a new Beatles title for Rock Band, the music game from Viacom (VIA)?

As the Fab Four might sing: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it also has to do with both music game rivals trying to keep consumers from getting weary of the entire genre.

In that vein, for example, the makers of Beatles: Rock Band are telling consumers to use Guitar Hero controllers to play.

In anticipation of these rollouts, BoomTown visited Guitar Hero’s HQ in Mountain View, Calif., to get a look-see at the new stuff (tomorrow, I will also post interviews I did with Guitar Hero division CEO Dan Rosensweig and its brother founders).

For today, though, here’s the video of the tour, as well as the Playboy Playmates television advertisement for Guitar Hero 5 (I do believe they are aiming at a male demo, so don’t blame me–and it is kind of funny):

[ See post to watch video ]

BoomTown Is Back (Just as Everyone Leaves for Burning Man)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:01:38 +0000

From vacation, that is–an activity that I highly recommend (and getting toasted at Burning Man this week does not count, although that is also apparently highly recommended in order to endure that digital dustfest).

In any case, we begin Yahoo memo-bombing in five minutes.

That is all.

Well, except for all that there is to check in on, such as the state of the regulatory approval process in the Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) deal, the upcoming Apple (AAPL) confab next week, figuring out if Twitter has either made some money or decided to sell out, ditto for Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL and, of course, discerning whatever evil plot Google (GOOG) and Facebook are cooking up .

Also this week: BoomTown visits Activision Blizzard (ATVI) Guitar Hero HQ and Adobe (ADBE), considers the online document space, chats with some VCs in Silicon Valley, checks out some new start-ups and more.

Sale of iLike to MySpace–$13.5 Million in Cash, $6 Million for Talent Retention–Delayed Over Tax Issues (Really!)…Plus, the List of Other Suitors!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:25:06 +0000

The board of iLike planned a meeting earlier tonight to go over a buyout offer by MySpace, several sources close to the situation said. But it was suddenly canceled because of some thorny tax implications related to the talent-retention part of the deal to purchase the social music start-up.

This does not mean the pending acquisition is in jeopardy, sources said, and it could be on track to be signed as early as today, barring any more complications.

That is what both iLike and MySpace execs are hoping, said sources, one of whom described the outstanding issues as a “technicality.”

What’s also been unclear is the actual price the social networking giant is paying for iLike, which has been reported as about $20 million.

In fact, only $13.5 million will be paid upfront in cash, with about $8 million of that money likely going to one of its major shareholders, Ticketmaster Entertainment (TKTM), due to its preferred shares.

Another $6 million has been promised by MySpace in forward payments to retain some key employees–including iLike co-founders and twin brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi.

Although those employees can remain in Seattle, where iLike has its HQ, they must stay employed at Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace for two and a half years to get their money.

It’s that talent part of the deal that caused the Partovis to cancel the iLike board meeting, which they explained to key investors was necessary due to some confusion over how the money paid to these employees would be taxed.

A person briefed on the issue said that if it was taxed as compensation, it would have a much higher tax rate than if it were considered long-term capital gains.

The Partovis said in the email that they were working on the problem with their advisers on the sale, Allen & Co., as well as with lawyers and accountants.

Tax snafus in the middle of a sale are not exactly the way the entrepreneurial Partovis envisioned it was going to go for iLike (see my various video interview related to iLike below) when they created the compelling music sharing and recommendation service in 2006.

After only a few years, the innovative start-up claims it has 50 million registered users overall.

A lot of that growth was due to iLike quickly becoming one of the most popular widgets on social networking sites like Facebook, where it has also been the top music application, with 10 million active monthly users.

The Partovis–who once were close with execs at Facebook (see my party video below), particularly founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg–placed great faith in its growth lifting all Web 2.0 boats.

It did not turn out that way, though, especially from the important financial point of view, and iLike scrambled to diversify.

The iLike service recently began offering a music downloading service, for example, as well as other such features, all of which would be attractive to the music-centric focus at MySpace.

Once an Internet sensation, MySpace has been struggling to restructure itself after losing momentum and buzz in recent years, as well as a huge advertising revenue drop in its most recent quarter.

Its owner, News Corp. (NWS), replaced its founders with new management four months ago, including former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta as CEO.

After making major staff layoffs and rejiggering management, Van Natta and his new team have been working on an overhaul of the MySpace product and seem to be refocusing it to become a global music and entertainment service.

MySpace also has a joint venture with major music labels, MySpace Music, which has been trying to attract consumers and build a viable business. Sources said MySpace Music could also buy into the iLike deal or simply license its technology to improve its features.

Thus, purchasing iLike would fit in well with MySpace’s overall plans.

And iLike has also been in need of a fix itself.

For all its popularity, especially on Facebook, it has moved slowly toward profitabilty, and its $17 million in funding has been dwindling, as has its viability as a standalone company.

Back in more frothy Web 2.0 days, iLike’s generous funding gave it a valuation of more than $50 million, which has also lost steam over time and as the economy has worsened.

In the last quarter of fiscal 2008, for example, Ticketmaster wrote down its $13 million investment by $6 million.

Tensions between its execs and iLike have gotten worse over time, although some thought at one time that Ticketmaster would buy iLike.

No longer, which is why the founders turned to Allen & Co., as MediaMemo reported as far back as November, to find another big investor or buyer.

Wrote Peter Kafka: “Delivering free music on the Web has so far proven to be a high-cost, low-revenue endeavor…”

So, the New York deal-making firm ginned up a small group of suitors, which included Facebook, Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and Microsoft (MSFT), as well as MySpace.

Of the three, Activision was most serious, with interest in integrating iLike’s community and technology tools with its Guitar Hero franchise.

But Activision never actually made a formal bid, said sources.

Both Microsoft and Facebook also considered the purchase, but sources said they would only offer stock in a deal. But iLike wanted cash in the deal.

The Partovis were also was wary about working at either place.

Both Partovis, for example, had worked at Microsoft (Ali after selling it LinkExchange in 1998 for $265 million; Hadi several times, once following Microsoft’s acquisition of Tellme Networks, which he co-founded).

As it has turned out, in its short life, iLike’s last, best alternative is apparently MySpace.

“Look, iLike has been shopped around for a while, and while the team and technology are great, it only has one choice and that’s to be sold,” said one person involved in the various scenarios. “The question for the buyer then is whether it was worth it to pay up or just move on and do it ourselves.”

So until the bean counters settle this IRS nightmare, here is my video interview with Hadi Partovi about a year ago at iLike’s HQ in the Capitol Hill section of Seattle, when times were a little more hopeful:

[ See post to watch video ]

And here is a very dark and very shaky video I did when iLike threw a fete in Silicon Valley to celebrate its start-up two years ago and to send some appreciation in Facebook’s direction–it is so dated that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who is in the video, is still at Google (GOOG).

(Full Disclosure: News Corp. also owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

The Agony and Ecstasy of Paula & Simon (Plus: When Abdul Did D6)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:44:05 +0000

BoomTown is wearing all-black today, in profound mourning for the prospect of no Paula Abdul judging on “American Idol” next season.

“With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return,” tweeted Abdul yesterday, bidding goodbye, natch, on Twitter.

Of course, her departure was over money–the boy talent, co-judge Simon Cowell and MC Ryan Seacrest, got a ton of it and Abdul got much less (although $2 million a year is a lot, it paled in comparison).

She is worth the scratch, though–especially considering how much the television singing juggernaut makes on Coke advertising placement alone–whether she was falling asleep in Carrie Underwood’s first audition or sleeping with contestants (allegedly!) or just doing that goofy seal clap and blathering out incomprehensible compliments to contestants.

Memo to News Corp. (NWS) TV unit Fox, which produces the TV show in the U.S.: Hand over more dough and pronto!

Sigh, as it is probably not to be–even though her bio is still on the “Idol” Web site.

So, here is a very funny video mashup done about her odd relationship with the acerbic Cowell.

Plus, here is a video from when Adbul also actually appeared–stranger than fiction–at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference.

She was there to help Activision Blizzard (ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick publicly demo “Guitar Hero IV” for the first time, with the help of skateboarding star Tony Hawk.

I’ll be honest–I was sure she’d do something crazy, like goose Bill Gates of Microsoft (MSFT) or maybe fall off the stage–but she turned out to be a pro and forever my girl (oh, I had to).

Check it out, since I am off draping crepe at the All Things Digital HQ:

Paula & Simon:

Paula at D6:

[ See post to watch video ]

Welcome to Lucky D7: Still Gambling on the Digital Future

Kara Swisher — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:15:55 +0000

Incredibly, this is the seventh year of the D: All Things Digital conference.

We feel very lucky to get here, especially in the midst of what our own site’s Digital Daily scribe, John Paczkowski, has so perfectly dubbed the “econalypse.”

Ironically, Walt Mossberg and I planned to launch the very first conference in the middle of the last major downturn for tech, in 2001. But, in the carnage of the Web 1.0 meltdown, we actually held off for two years, with our first D gathering taking place in 2003.

It’s been a real winning streak since then for D, due in large part to our great speakers–such as Microsoft (MSFT) icon Bill Gates and Apple (AAPL) legend Steve Jobs.

Both have been onstage many times over the years, including a historic interview the pair of tech titans did together in 2007 at D5.

Other amazing speakers have included: Howard Stringer of Sony (SNE), Barry Diller of InterActiveCorp (IACI), legendary director George Lucas, Time Warner (TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Bezos of Amazon (AMZN), former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman, News Corp. (NWS) head Rupert Murdoch, Microsoft head Steve Ballmer, Walt Disney (DIS) honcho Bob Iger, Bobby Kotick of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CBS (CBS) CEO Les Moonves, Democratic and Republican pols like former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John McCain, all the leadership of Google (GOOG) and many, many more.

We have had a lot of great moments onstage with all these tech and media players over the years, to be sure, with interviews ranging from the funny to the sublime to the truly disastrous.

But, like the digital industry and the innovation our conference focuses on, we also like to lean forward to try to figure out what the Next Big Thing is around the corner, whether it comes from Silicon Valley or not.

That’s why we’re kicking off our conference on May 26 with two of the founders of Twitter–Biz Stone and Evan Williams–who are riding high on tech’s latest hot thing, which might turn out to be either a rocket ship or a shooting star.

They’ll be followed up over the next two days by a plethora of interesting players, from the leaders of several major mobile companies to content execs hit hard by fast-moving digital forces to a new Internet leader like Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz, who is trying to turn around one of the Web’s great icons from its more recent lackluster path.

And, as we always do, we will be featuring a spate of demos too, trying to see if we can unearth that next next thing.

In the past, the D stage has seen the debut of start-up products like Sling Media’s Slingbox, Aliph’s Jawbone and Pure Digital’s Flip, all of which have gone onto glory. And also some, like Palm’s Foleo, which did not.

While not everyone can attend D, our crack staff is committed to bringing all the action from this year’s conference to readers of the All Things Digital site via up-to-the-minute blogs, photos, videos, tweets, digs and more. We’ll also, as soon as we can, post the videos of each of the onstage sessions, in their entirety.

Until it all kicks off, here is the list of speakers, below, in alphabetical order, who will be appearing at 2009’s D7 conference:

Irving Azoff | CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment (TKTM)

Mitchell Baker | Chairman of Mozilla

Steve Ballmer | CEO of Microsoft

Carol Bartz | CEO of Yahoo

Mark Cuban | Chairman of HDNet and Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures

Eve Ensler | Playwright and Founder of V-Day

Arianna Huffington | Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo | CEO of Nokia (NOK)

Mike Lazaridis | Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIMM)

John Lilly | CEO of Mozilla

John Malone | Chairman of Liberty Media Corporation (LCAPA)

Roger McNamee | Partner, Elevation Partners

Jon Miller | Chief Digital Officer of News Corp.

Jon Rubinstein | Executive Chairman, Palm (PALM)

Randall Stephenson | CEO of AT&T (T)

Biz Stone | Co-founder of Twitter

Owen Van Natta | CEO of MySpace

Katharine Weymouth | Publisher of the Washington Post (WPO)

Evan Williams | Co-founder and CEO of Twitter

Jeff Zucker | CEO of NBC Universal (GE)

New Guitar Hero Rosensweig and Activision CEO Kotick Speak!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:21:09 +0000

As reported Sunday night by BoomTown, former Yahoo exec and Quadrangle Group partner Dan Rosensweig will become CEO and president of the Guitar Hero division of gaming giant Activision Blizzard.

I chatted with both Rosensweig and Activision (ATVI) president and CEO Bobby Kotick yesterday about the move and where the gaming company is going in the year ahead.

“I love music and I love big brands,” said Rosensweig (pictured here), whose enthusiasm for music, especially for Bruce Springsteen, is well known in Silicon Valley. “I wanted to do something different, something fun and something that was going to be the next big space online.”

And, indeed, the online music gaming space is stronger than most other Internet businesses these days, with a lot of potential, having just started to tap into social networking, mobile and other interactive possibilities.

So far, as a retail and home phenom, Guitar Hero has been a huge success since its release in 2005, followed by several new versions. And the company will be releasing a hip-hop-themed DJ Hero–complete with a turntable–soon, for example.

But, to keep up the pace, it will now be Rosensweig’s job to feed the consumer beast as never before.

Kotick said he had spent a lot of time looking for the right exec to turbocharge the company’s online Guitar Hero network. Already, for example, he pointed out that 200,000 original, user-generated songs had been uploaded to its Web site, with many millions downloaded back.

He noted that the concept of the “release your inner rock star” fantasy that Guitar Hero taps into at home had still not gone online as much as it could, and added that the brand would be moving into more and more music genres.

“We already have a big online business, but we have not even reached into five percent of the installed base of gamers,” said Kotick (pictured here). “I wanted someone who could focus on this with a passion and who gets how to leverage what we have already built.”

Kotick said he initially had asked Rosensweig for suggestions about who would be good for the job, having gotten to know him when Rosensweig was COO of Yahoo (YHOO) and Kotick was on its board.

“It was funny, but as I started talking to him, I thought he was the perfect person for it,” he said.

And it was perfect timing too, with all the turbulence on Wall Street and in the private equity business. Rosensweig had already been thinking about getting back into operations, after his post-Yahoo stint at Quadrangle.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in the market, but what I really wanted to do was be part of developing a whole new space for an already hugely successful brand,” he said. “The growth opportunity and the ability to scale here is enormous.”

Rosensweig, who will start April 20, does have his work cut out for him, overseeing Guitar Hero’s game development, marketing and distribution.

(The division’s former head and the co-creator of Guitar Hero, Kai Huang, will report to him, while Rosensweig will report to Activision President Mike Griffith.)

Besides dealing with the weak economy, which the company signaled in its most recent quarter could bring trouble, the Guitar Hero behemoth must keep innovating.

Rosensweig is also facing competition when competitor Rock Band releases a Beatles-focused music offering in September. It is likely to be very popular, even though Guitar Hero has typically outsold Rock Band.

More significantly, some think the entire online music gaming trend has played out, with sales down year over year.

Not Rosensweig. “It is just the beginning of what it could be online in this business,” he said.

And, for those interested, here is the full press release:

Activision Publishing Names Media Veteran and Former Yahoo! COO Dan Rosensweig President and CEO of Guitar Hero(R) Business Unit

–Appointment Further Strengthens Company’s Senior Management Team

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 23, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/–Further strengthening its senior management team, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Dan Rosensweig has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of RedOctane, the business unit which develops the blockbuster Guitar Hero(R) franchise and soon to be released DJ Hero(TM).

Mr. Rosensweig will oversee Guitar Hero’s global operations including game development, hardware manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and marketing. He will report directly to Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former President and CEO of RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles Huang created Guitar Hero, will continue working at RedOctane reporting to Mr. Rosensweig.

Mr. Rosensweig brings significant experience to Activision having served as Chief Operating Officer of Yahoo! from 2002 through 2006, where he oversaw the company’s worldwide operations including its product development, marketing, and advertising sales and the development and introduction of inventive new Internet advertising formats.

Additionally, he spent 18 years at Ziff Davis, most recently serving as President where he was responsible for the global operations of the company and the successful merger of ZDNet and CNET. He held several senior positions during his tenure at Ziff-Davis, including President and Chief Executive Officer of ZDNet, which he built from a standalone Ziff-Davis company to a publicly traded, highly trafficked Internet network, President of Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing Group and Vice-President and Publisher of PC Magazine.

Prior to joining Activision, from 2007-2009, Mr. Rosensweig served as an operating principal at Quadrangle Group, a private investment firm, where he focused on the firm’s media and communications private equity business.

“Under the leadership of Kai and Charles, Guitar Hero established the music gaming genre and became a global phenomenon,” said Mike Griffith. “With the addition of Dan’s proven operational expertise and leadership, we will continue expanding the franchise’s global footprint in new and innovative ways. Dan’s deep understanding of how consumers can be entertained online will be invaluable as we continue to build Guitar Hero’s complementary growth channels, further establish the franchise as an innovative music platform and develop relationships with new business partners.”

Robert Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard noted, “I had the great pleasure of working with Dan during his tenure at Yahoo!. Dan has a rare combination of deep business expertise, entrepreneurial instincts and an incredible passion for music. We are looking forward to leveraging his proven online experience to build upon the billions of hours of entertainment we deliver each year in the Guitar Hero network.”

“I am extremely excited for this opportunity to work with the talented Guitar Hero team, which has transformed the interactive entertainment landscape,” said Mr. Rosensweig. “With a platform and content that universally engages a wide range of audiences, Guitar Hero has incredible growth potential. I look forward to continuing to develop Guitar Hero into an even more successful enterprise.”

Exclusive: Dan Rosensweig Steps Up to Take His Licks as Guitar Hero Frontman

Kara Swisher — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:54:05 +0000

Former Yahoo COO and current Quadrangle Group partner Dan Rosensweig (pictured here) will take over as CEO and president of Activision Blizzard’s powerful Guitar Hero franchise, according to sources close to the situation.

Rosensweig will run the hot gaming company’s division, which is located in Silicon Valley, the result of its purchase of RedOctane in 2006, source said.

He is well known to Activision (ATVI) Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick, who served on the Yahoo board for many years when Rosensweig was a key exec there. Both Rosensweig and Kotick have since left Yahoo.

It’s an interesting move for Rosensweig, who has been working in private equity since his departure from Yahoo (YHOO) in late 2006.

His name has been bandied about for several high-profile Web positions of late, and many thought he might take a political job, given that he was one of many digital execs involved in helping elect President Barack Obama.

But the weak market for investments and Rosensweig’s longtime experience and interest in eventually returning to operations–along with his well-known passion for music–are the likeliest motivators for the move to Guitar Hero.

Sources said Rosensweig will start his new job at Guitar Hero–which Activision could announce as early as tomorrow–in several weeks.

Running a major consumer brand like Guitar Hero seems tailor-made for Rosensweig, who worked at CNET Networks and Ziff-Davis before Yahoo. In addition, the jovial exec is well-respected in Silicon Valley, giving Activision a much more prominent presence here.

And the energetic Kotick (pictured below with me and, yes, Paula Abdul of “American Idol”–don’t ask) has long talked about turbocharging the largely retail Guitar Hero business online, as a way to further grow the music phenom.

User-generated music, as well as a plethora of online transactions and social networking, have been promising new revenue opportunities, Kotick has said.

(See video highlights of my interview with Kotick below on that topic and more at last year’s D: All Things Digital conference.)

Overall, despite the weak economy and a cautious forecast going forward, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision is growing, with revenues up in the last quarter, due in large part to the popularity of its Guitar Hero and Call of Duty videogames.

Its fast pace, in contrast to rival Electronic Arts (ERTS), has been helped by its merger with Vivendi SA’s Blizzard Entertainment last summer. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft online game is also one of the most popular multiplayer games in the world.

Here’s a highlights video from my interview with Kotick at D6:

[ See post to watch video ]

Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick Speaks!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:35:46 +0000

Former New Yorker and now Los Angeleno Bobby Kotick is a very funny guy, always cracking wise about everything from politicians to art to his skills as a parent.

During an interview yesterday, he even got a few good ones off about the funny foibles of Activision, the gaming company he runs, even though it has suddenly become a much more serious business after a recent merger with Vivendi Universal’s gaming division.

Here’s a video chat with Kotick, who also serves on the board of Yahoo, which I made after we had lunch at–like I said, he’s funny–Google’s cafeteria (and, of course, he also gets a good one in about Electronic Arts’ competitive Rock Band game at the end):

[ See post to watch video ]

Activision, which makes the popular Guitar Hero video game series (its Guitar Hero III is expected to be one of the best-selling this holiday season), has vaunted itself to be about equal in size to EA, the longtime dominant video game company.

Perhaps most importantly for Activision, the move puts the business squarely into the Web space. Vivendi’s Blizzard Entertainment unit makes the hugely popular World of Warcraft multiplayer game, where users compete on the Internet.

Kotick will be CEO of the merged company, even though Vivendi will get a 52% stake. It will be called Activision Blizzard with combined revenues of $3.7 billion.

But even together, the pair face the challenge of churning out more hits and keeping their franchises fresh.