Activision has High Moon working on Transformers, Radical on Spider-Man

When Activision Blizzard buys a development studio, it generally asks one simple question: Which one of our franchises can these guys work on?

The publisher's business model is based entirely on brands that it "exploits" (sequelizes and spins off) on a regular basis. Once in a while a studio gets to make a new property, like Raven is doing with "Singularity," but most of the time, they're working on a franchise. Infinity Ward has "Modern Warfare," Neversoft took ownership of "Guitar Hero," Vicarious Visions does Wii versions of "Guitar Hero," etc.

So after Activision merged with Vivendi Games last summer and its management took control of the new entity, you know CEO Bobby Kotick and his executive team had only one thought as they perused Vivendi's development studios: Which ones fit a need for one of our franchises?

Meaning no offense to the talent at High Moon Studios and Radical Entertainment, the two of Vivendi's six studios kept on, but it wasn't for their sheer talent alone. Yes, Activision apparently believed enough in Radical's "Prototype," already well into production last year, to finish it up. But in both cases, they have been put to work on their new owner's established franchises (with Radical, of course, potentially going onto a "Prototype" sequel if the first one sells well).

According to several sources, those franchises are "Transformers" for High Moon and "Spider-Man" for Radical. This summer, Activision is releasing its second "Transformers" game tied to a movie, developed by Luxoflux. But CEO Bobby Kotick has already said he wants to turn the shape-shifting robots into an annual franchise. The 2010 non-movie tie-in is being made by High Moon, I have learned.

That's a bit of a surprise, since the obvious franchise for High Moon might have been "James Bond," given that its last game was "The Bourne Conspiracy." And its previous (and first) release was horror action title "Darkwatch." Nonetheless, Activision saw technology it thought could be applied to "Transformers." We'll get to judge the results sometime next year.

As for Radical, its work on "Spider-Man" is more obvious. "Prototype" features an agile hero who jumps and runs along walls in an open world version of New York City. Add web slinging and you've got "Spider-Man" to a tee.

In addition, Activision clearly needs a new developer to help with yearly "Spider-Man" games. Treyarch has previously produced many of them, but it is already making "Call of Duty" and "James Bond" games every other year. It could easily afford to give up the franchise and let Radical share it with Shaba, which worked with Treyarch on 2008's "Spider-Man: Friend or Foe." (I'm not sure which studio is making the "Spider-Man" game expected for this fall, though it's probably not Radical given that it just entered the Activision "family" last summer.)

With that information, it seems like a good time to look at Activision Blizzard's 16 studios and what franchises they're working on. This list is based on publicly available information and my own reporting, but is probably a bit incomplete. And certainly doesn't include any potential new franchises that haven't yet been announced or uncovered.

Beenox: DreamWorks Animation games; "Guitar Hero" compilation "Smash Hits"

Bizarre Creations: "James Bond" games and an original racing title

Blizzard Entertainment: "World of Warcraft"; "Starcraft"; "Diablo"; something new

Budcat: Playstation 2 versions of "Guitar Hero" (which sell surprisingly well)

Freestyle Games: "DJ Hero"

High Moon: "Transformers"

Infinity Ward: "Modern Warfare"

Luxoflux: "Transformers"; DreamWorks Animation titles

Neversoft: Lead "Guitar Hero" developer for PS3 and 360

Radical: "Prototype" and "Spider-Man"

Raven Software: "Singularity," "Wolfenstein," Marvel games like "Wolverine"

Shaba: "Spider-Man"

7 Studios: "Scratch: the Ultimate DJ"; "DJ Hero" (7 was just acquired a few weeks ago and it's in the middle of a lawsuit, so its role is still TBD)

Toys for Bob: DreamWorks Animation games

Treyarch: "Call of Duty"; "James Bond"

Vicarious Visions: Core "Guitar Hero" titles for the Wii; other ports for the DS

(This story previously said I was more confident in the High Moon part than the Radical part. But I have since heard from another source and am equally confident in both halves of my reporting here.)