“We have had a very successful year to date and so has the industry overall. But we have outperformed the market and expect further significant growth this year. Not so long ago IDG were predicting a market decline, but they have been wrong. Clearly sales have been driven recently by GTA IV and Wii Fit, whilst Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero have remained in the Top 10. We don’t see the trend for growth reversing over the rest of the year. Year to date, end of May, the UK market is up 46 per cent by value, but Activision is up 60 per cent. Our target is to keep outperforming the market.

The music genre is absolutely huge and will get much bigger in Europe. Singstar pioneered it and Guitar Hero has built on it, as have others such as Rock Band. Europe is still a long way behind the US, so has enormous potential. How can we make it nearly as big as our entire business last year? More SKUs and fantastic experiences for the consumer. The DS, for example, has the same installed base in Europe as in the US, but software sales are stronger. There will also be more Euro-centric tracks added to the new Guitar Hero products. We are growing the European Guitar Hero team with 20 additional heads. We want the best talent.” – Joerg Trouvain Senior Vice President of Publishing, Europe Activision

Interview here