EA, Activision Responsible For 75 Percent Of Q3 Console Releases

Ramping up now instead of just planning for Christmas, Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts will collectively publish 40 percent of second-half and an eye-opening 75 percent of July-September console game releases in the West, according to a new Screen Digest-authored report. For Q3 - the period from July to September - Electronic Arts is the busiest publisher in the quarter, according to Screen Digest's Ed Barton, "as it releases its extensive range of annual sports games", including multiple Madden and Tiger Woods SKUs, with around 21 releases in the quarter. However, Activision Blizzard is close behind, with 19 SKU releases for the period - and between them, Activision Blizzard and EA will generate around forty per cent of all Q4 (October-December) and around seventy five per cent of all Q3 (July-September) packaged releases for Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Barton particularly notes of a new trend he's seeing: "While most publishers appear to ramp up release volume in the key Christmas quarter, EA and Activision Blizzard appear to be ramping up release volumes to similar levels in both calendar Q3 and Q4." In the same market survey, it's noted that Nintendo's Wii still has the largest game library among all consoles -- and will increase this gap in the latter half of the year.