Product P1 (c)

Meaning and Purpose

A product is an item offered for sale. Products can be services or an item either physical (e.g Disc) or in virtual or cyber form (Download). Every product is made at a cost and each is sold at a price. The price that can be charged depends on the market, the quality, the marketing and the segment that is targeted. The purpose of a product is to satisfy consumer needs/demands and help firms generate revenues.

Product

Activision Blizzard do not directly create products they are the holding company of Activision which is a games publisher. Game Publishers own one or more studios e.g Treyarch and are in control of what games are produced and who for. As a studio it is then Treyarch's responsibility to create the game, which is then distributed by Activision.

Activision has published 100's of game titles since it was founded, this is largely thanks to the fact that it owns over 13 studios that produce a range of interactive media products for all platforms varying from phones to Desktop PCs but mostly consoles. One of Activision's most popular franchises is Call of Duty, a first person shooter that started on PC with Call of Duty (launched 2003) and later expanded to consoles and handhelds.

Several spin-off games have also been released. The earlier games in the series are set primarily in World War II, including Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, and Call of Duty 3. Beginning with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which is set in modern times, the series has shifted focus away from World War II. Modern Warfare (released November 2007) was followed by Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Black Ops (released November 2010) takes place in the Cold War, while Modern Warfare 3 (released November 2011) takes place in a near-future setting. Black Ops II (released November 2012) takes place in the year 2025. Call of Duty: Ghosts was released in November 2013. The most recent title was Advanced Warfare (released November 2014).

The Call of Duty games are published and owned by Activision. While the studio Infinity Ward primarily still develops them, Treyarch has also developed several of the titles with the release of the studios' games interlaced with each other. Some games have been developed by Gray Matter Interactive, Nokia, Exakt Entertainment, Spark Unlimited, Amaze Entertainment, n-Space, Aspyr, Rebellion Developments, Ideaworks Game Studio, Sledgehammer Games, and nStigate Games. The games use a variety of engines, including the id Tech 3, the Treyarch NGL, and the IW 5.0.

As of November 11, 2011, the Call of Duty series has sold over 100 million copies. As of March 31, 2012 there are 40 million monthly active players across all of the Call of Duty titles, with 10 million users of the online service Call of Duty: Elite and 2 million paying annual members. Over 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay have been logged on Modern Warfare 3 since its 2011 release Sales of all Call of Duty games topped US$10 billion, according to Activision.

Call of Duty however is not Activision Blizzards only product, AB have also produced the hugely successful World of Warcraft (WoW) , a MMORPG in which players play in a consistent world with thousands of players. WoW is the most popular subscription based game currently around having around 7.1 million players subscribed  and 12 million at its peak in 2011.

Activision have also produced other smaller titles such as Skylanders, a title targeting younger audiences that involves collecting toy figurines that can then be used in game by placing the model on a 'portal'. This is a highly innovative concept that first introduced combing real toys and placing them inside a game.