According to Business Week, Activision increased 3.6 percent to $12.37 at 11:58 a.m. in New York, after the companies said in a statement that they will offer Activision's "Call of Duty" video game in China. However, when the popular war-simulation shooting game reaches China's shores this year, Activision is taking a different approach by giving it away for free.
The peculiarities of the fast-growing Chinese market is evident, and the Santa Monica, California company is providing an answer to a place where game consoles barely have presence and people typically play video games in PC-laden Internet cafes. To help bring the game to market, Activision signed a multiyear agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd. a popular Internet company in China that offers games, social networking and e-commerce.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Activision will try to make money on its free "Call of Duty" by selling items to help users play the game, such as enhancements for their weapons or extra gear. But the China version is not simply a rehash of existing titles. The company says that this version is completely new, with a different design and storyline that took two years to produce.
Activision created the game at a studio in China to ensure it would appeal to gamers' tastes there, said Bobby Kotick, Activision's chief executive.
"The game is incredible," he said. "How you play, what you play, customization of weapons, the types of characters, the equipment you use, the game modes, and the maps are all unique to the Chinese market."
Activision invested about the same amount of money producing "Call of Duty" for China as it does for one of the installments in the U.S., Mr. Kotick said. Analysts estimate the games cost at least $50 million to produce each year.
"No one's done it really well yet," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, in The WallStreet Journal. He said many Chinese gamers have grown accustomed to buying virtual goods in lower-quality games. So, it's possible they might be willing to pay even more in a game with higher production values. In addition, he said, war-simulation shooting games have become popular there, creating an inroad for the "Call of Duty" games. "It's a good experiment and a worthy one."
"'Call of Duty" has established itself as the gold-standard in gaming for years," Martin Lau, Tencent's president, said. "We believe its online version will be very well-received by gamers in China."
The game will go into public testing later this year, following regulatory reviews.
