• Financial Times, Friday, July 11, 2008 12:45 PM

Activision Blizzard, formed as the result of a merger between video game publisher Activision and the gaming unit of media giant Vivendi, plans to launch an online music platform that could rival Apple's iTunes media store. Bobby Kotick, the company's new CEO, said that creating an online music platform for Activision's popular Guitar Hero line of games was "the natural evolution" of a franchise that generated nearly $1 billion in worldwide revenues.

"I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes, but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Kotick said, adding that the merger with Vivendi, owner of Universal Music Group, would help Activision Blizzard realize that goal. However, to compete with iTunes, FT notes that the recently formed company would have to strike licensing deals with the other major music labels.

According to the report, Activision Blizzard is now competing with MTV Games for a deal to develop a guitar-based game featuring Beatles' songs. Apple's iTunes has long been denied access to the Beatles catalogue of music. Separately, Kotick declined to comment on whether the company would enter a bidding war with Electronic Arts, the largest video game publisher, for Grand Theft Auto maker Take Two Interactive.

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